Surgical Item Not Often Thought About! Dental!

[Charlize]

Wonderful Michelle.

So many of us don't consider how important our teeth are for looks.  My father didn't want to pay for braces or any work on my mouth despite teeth missing from accidents and a big overbite.  After all i wasn't a girl so i didn't have to look good.......

Anyway i was fortunate that my wife dental insurance covered invisilines(sp?)  A year or so lather i saw big improvements and a bit more work made my smile almost attractive.

 

Hugs,

 

Charlize

[Lexi C]

huh..yeah I so worried about my face, stomach , hair that forget about the other stuff. Good looking out Charlize..

[Eleanora]

I have recently gotten all four of my wisdom teeth removed, and thus I have been looking at my mouth a lot more closely in the mirror as of late. I, too, am a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. Fortunately my teeth are not as bad as they could be. I still have all of my adult teeth, sans the wisdom teeth of course, and none of my teeth appear broken. I also quit smoking after my wisdom teeth removal, as I was terrified of getting a dry socket, because I have a severe chronic phobia of dentists. ...Well,not so much of dentists; I LOVE them; it is the dental procedures which make me panic and sweat. Just seeing the giant lamp swing over my head makes me want to run away; I am a colossal baby. ? 

Now, before my wisdom teeth removal, and the still-in-progress recovery period, I thought to myself, "Perhaps I should just have ALL my teeth removed and replaced with implants?" because I do not take near as good care of my teeth as I should be, but moreover, because they "look male" to me, perhaps because they are a bit chaotic. Not unnatural looking or anything, but just kind of asymmetrical and crooked/lopsided. It is ridiculous for me tothink of them as "male teeth" though, because they look like my mother's teeth. We both have strong teeth genes, but the teeth don't look neat and tidy at all, haha, they are strong in atomic physical structure only.  ?

Now...after my wisdom teeth removal...I am having some serious second thoughts about that course of action! 

So, I decided to do some research to determine if my teeth really would give away my biological sex, and I got mostly mixed results. Some studies suggest that there are teeny tiny differences between a male's teeth and a female's teeth, but in a study where a group of dentists were shown pictures of smiles and told to guess the gender of each smile based on their teeth alone, the dental experts were consistently correct only 50% of the time.

I became less worried about it after that haha. If a dentist cannot tell, Joe Schmo on the street corner most CERTAINLY could not. ?

But alas, I do feel I need a professional cleaning, if nothing else. Although since quitting smoking and drinking, I have noticed a remarkable difference in the shade of my teeth; they look far whiter than they used to, with the only stains being in exceptionally-difficult-to-reach places which would likely be imperceptible at first glance. ?

[Jackie C.]

23 minutes ago, Eleanora said:

"Perhaps I should just have ALL my teeth removed and replaced with implants?"

 

This made me cringe. Perhaps the most horrible thing I've heard all day. Yikes!

 

Hugs!

[KathyLauren]

A trans friend of mine was outed by her teeth, by her dental hygienist.  I doubt if the gender differences are pronounced enough to tell just from a smile, but a dentist or hygienist who is poking about inside your mouth could.  It ended up well for my friend: she is dating the hygienist!

 

I am probably the only person in the history of the Canadian Armed Forces who never had their wisdom teeth removed.  No idea why not.  Now, they are impacted, partly erupted, and crowding my mouth.  My dentist keeps an eye on them, but is taking the attitude that, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

The crowding did cause two of my incisors to be pushed forward, out of line.  They were a bit unsightly.  I had one of them removed because the teeth on either side were touching, so that tooth was superfluous.  I haven't had the other one removed, because it would leave a gap.

[VickySGV]

Interesting timing on this thread getting some action.  I finally gave in two months ago and had a broken tooth removed that had had a root canal years ago.  This tooth had supported a bridge over an area where another tooth had been removed nearly 20 years before and was going to make things pretty bad.  My dental insurance does not cover implants, but my dentist and I decided they were the only solution to the problem and I dug into my savings and now have the implant bases in my jaw where they must heal in for about 4 to six months.  So far the implant healing process has been uneventful and since a temporary bridge is over them, hard to notice by others so my check-up in a few hours is going to be routine.  I had not thought about implants before, but so far I am happy with what is going on and I will not have to worry about the bridge coming out.  I will ask my dentist this morning about "male teeth" vs. "female teeth" even though she has known me on both sides of my transition and is still a wonderful health care giver who had been my dentist when I made the OP in this thread.

 

I also found out that the surgery I quoted at $15K (US) has doubled 8 years later.  My friend also DID get the dental work done and is a super wow looking woman who is involved in local Trans Health work.

[Eleanora]

@Jackie C. I cringe thinking about it too. ?

@KathyLauren: Holy cow, really? I wonder how they were able to tell, and if there is a way to make male teeth appear female to a dentist? ?

@VickySGV: Thanks for sharing; I am really looking forward to hearing what your dentist says on Mal VS Female Teeth! ?

[Marilynn]

Hey all, I am 64 now and I am lucky that I still can show my teeth and a smile now and then.

[Jani]

You look very nice @Marilynn.  Transition has been good to you. 

[Ivy]

Arrgh.   I have hardly any teeth.  To be honest I look like crap. (It's hard to even mention this)  I'm pretty much resigned to looking like an old hag.   Depressing, but there it is.   Guess I'd rather be an old hag than a guy.

 

Hope I'm not bumming anyone out.

[Bri2020]

On 8/24/2020 at 7:41 AM, Jackie C. said:

 

This made me cringe. Perhaps the most horrible thing I've heard all day. Yikes!

 

Hugs!

I considered it. lol. I have had a serious phobia/anxiety disorder about dentists my whole life from traumatic childhood dental experiences.  I've avoided dentists at all costs my whole life. It takes valium just for me to make an appointment. I have lost most of my molates and my smile isn't pretty. I have three implants for front uppers now and seriously thought about going to Belize to have all my "smile" teeth replaced because they are such a mess.  Knock me out and then knock them all out a once.  Implants are ridiculously expensive in this area- $5k a tooth all said and done.  I can get them for 60% less in Belize.  The nice thing about them is very little maintenance afterwards.  Since my medical insurance will probably cover most of my gender surgeries my only real expenses related to transition are electrolysis and bread aug if needed so spending money on my smile seems like a worthy investment (especially since I smile more now that I am happier!)

[Marilynn]

2 hours ago, Jani said:

You look very nice @Marilynn.  Transition has been good to you. 

Hi Jani, thank you so much. I did start HRT in Nov. 2016 and I don't regret anything. I was first afraid that my transition won't have any effect on me because of my age.  

[Eleanora]

Just found an interesting page on Dental Feminization for anyone interested: https://www.aegisdentalnetwork.com/cced/2017/09/treatment-considerations-for-a-full-mouth-reconstruction-of-a-transgender-patient