DIY dentistry...!

The BBC's Jeremy Vine show has a piece coming up today on some kind of DIY dentistry. I was fairly amazed at the idea though I haven't heard the details yet.

Apparently it is possible to buy hygenists tools for home use. For example, a web search brought up

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These are dental scalers. Even being able to buy things like these is a surprise. My hygenist once refused to do a certain piece of cleaning work which was about removing clear cement from the surface of a tooth, preferring to refer that part of the job to the dentist so that he would take responsibility for distinguishing cement from tooth material. So the idea of buying tools to 'scrape' your own teeth is surprising, to say the least.

Anyone tried dental DIY? Anyone brave enough to consider it? Or is it easier and safer, if approached responsibly, than one might imagine?

Not the usual DIY topic, eh!

James

Reply to
James Harris
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Angle grinder?

Reply to
Davey

Dremel.

Reply to
S Viemeister

Thanks.

I am tempted because I suffer from plaque build up on my lower front teeth, and the hygienist is not included in the NHS treatment plan.

IIRC I used to get a hygienist appointment included in my NHS treatment back in the day.

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may be a better option, though.

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David

Good point. I wondered where all the promised uses for the thing were. Now here's one!

Reply to
Davey

I've glued my wife's front tooth cap back on using superglue. Hardest part was keeping her tongue still and away from the tooth for a few minutes until the glue had dried ;)

It was over a holiday period and couldn't get to a dentist. She later saw her dentist and he said it looked fine, just leave well alone unless/untill it falls off again.

Reply to
Davidm

There was a chap on TV who disapproved of dentists on much the same grounds as diy-ers disapprove of professionals, i.e. he figured he could do a better job cheaper, and with less trouble, bunch of robbers, easy if you know how, etc. etc.

He'd get stuff at a dentists supply, and dremeled down teeth to stumps, using a diamond burr, added a cap of cement, and then dremelled that to tooth shape. (Car body filler an angle grinder, pretty much). Most/all of these teeth were removable, and stuck in place with spit or denture adhesive cream. Oh, and he'd do little here, a little there, like fettling a model train or something.

A dentist looked at the work, pronounced it a bodge of the higest order, and expressed amazement that the chap could eat, smile, and generally not be completely miserable, and extra amazement at doing all this without local anaesthetic.

I could probably google up the TV show, but it was bad enough watching the first time, seeing the fellow spit all his teeth out like a cartoon character...

Thomas Prufer

Reply to
Thomas Prufer

In message , James Harris writes

No reason why you shouldn't be able to buy them. I imagine you can buy most surgical tools if you really want to.

Can't say I've been tempted, though you have been able to buy kits for temporary tooth repair for years (for use when travelling).

My wife's great uncle made himself some false teeth once. I think he has since moved on to proper ones :-)

Reply to
Chris French

DIY cleaning is straightforward enough. Your link & David's aren't equipmen t I'd buy though, the 99p stores kit has what's needed. One pointed scraper 's fine IME, which it contains, plus an abrasive rubber tool that's useful too. I mostly use a magnifying makeup mirror 5" or so across, the little 1" things are of more limited use, only really for the least visible bits. Yo u need good light to see clearly. And finally a single tuft brush can do mu ch more vigorous scrubbing than a toothbrush, which is often effective to g et plaque off.

But... if you've got plaque building up, look at your brushing technique. I deally brushing should get teeth clean - it never fully does of course, but there's always room for improvement.

And don't forget disclosing tablets, most helpful.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Since he could eat, smile etc, it appears the dentist was wrong.

Filling without anaesthesia isn't too terrible. Mindset has a lot to do with how we handle pain, and diy pain is easier to deal with than being passively hurt, especially so once you're determined to get it done. (No, I'm not abnormally experienced heh.)

I'd be interesed to see it :)

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

No but my dentist told me that if your enamel was normal none of her tools should damage it, and cement is softer than enamel so was relatively easy to remove just like scale is.

The problem is that although you could feel yourself. you cannot see in your own mouth to see if you have missed anything. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Actually, they doo have a little sweeps brush thing they use that rotates a bit like an angle grinnder with bristles. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

You need a strong stomach for some of them - particularly ones which have been designed for a single *very* specific use

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Mind you I was in a country store once and felt very queasy find a pair of shears specifically designed for castrating sheep ...

Reply to
Jethro_uk

According to a Guardian article a couple of weeks ago, people are doing more than just simple cleaning:

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Reply to
mike

As I may have mentioned before on this NG, I have used that two-pack plumbers putty to fill a cavity when a filling came out; lasted several months very successfully before a dentist eventually replaced it.

In WW2, my late father was the medical officer on a naval aircraft transport vessel (HMS Athena), and somewhere in the middle of the Indian ocean he developed an abscess under a tooth, with accompanying extreme tooth-ache. He was the only person on board remotely qualified to deal with it, and although he asked if anyone else would extract it for him, he got no volunteers. Eventually he had to extract it himself, apparently with the aid of several shots of whisky, there being no local anesthetics in those days.

Reply to
Chris Hogg

A couple of bricks. Doesn't it hurt? Only if you get your fingers in the way!

Reply to
Chris Hogg

you've never heard of a selfi picture/movie, can't be that difficult. I gue ss there's also no way of cutting your own hair, because no one case se the back of their head. ;-) and just because it DIY it doen;t have to be liter lly DIY another could help quite easily.

Reply to
whisky-dave

When I wqas a kid visiting castlers and teh like I was fascinated by the torture instruments mostly the eye gougers.

Reply to
whisky-dave

Dentist used to send me to the hygienist for same reason every 1-2 years. One hygienist showed me how to floss front teeth properly, and dentist has not needed to send me to the hygienist for some 25 years now.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

I'm no expert but I understand that the cement dentists use is designed for easy removal when required. Superglue isn't. I wonder if the dentist was diplomatically telling your wife that removing the crown without causing damage would be difficult. Let's hope removal is never required.

Reply to
Mike Barnes

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