Tartar Or Plaque

[daveygh]

I have a beautiful daughter who is now 23 and she has quite a bit of plaque or tartar on her bottom teeth. For some reason she has a phobia with dentists and hairdressers and will point blank refuse to go to either. the last time we mentioned that she needed to get it seen to she cried and didn't speak to us for days. We hate to see her spoiling her beautiful looks and it has got to a point where her breath is starting to smell a bit.
I even bought her a dental kit complete with scrapers etc and just left it in her room where it was obvious without mentioning it but she just moved it and it is still unopened.
Can any give some sensible advice on what to do or say to her we have run out of ideas.

[woofgang]

The answer is that there is nothing that you can do. She is an adult and can make her own choices. The fact that she is phobic about both hairdressers and dentists says to me that this might be a part of a bigger issue. Has she always been like this or can you relate it to a specific incident?

[Canary42]

Sadly, the young have to learn the hard way when they won't listen to advice.

The problem you describe would only need the attention of a dental hygienist, not a dentist - would this make any difference ?

[jno]

does she actually brush her teeth?

[daveygh]

We honestly cant relate her phobia to any incident, she always used to cry when we took her during her school years and stopped going once she left school and started work. I have even offered to go in with her and hold her hand throughout but she just has this fear.
Yes Jno she brushes her teeth and she realises its getting bad as we found that she has even bought her own smokers toothpaste even though she abhors smoking so she is probably hoping that would help it but it isn't.

[woofgang]

would she talk to her GP about this? There are dentists who will help phobic people and she might be able to get an NHS referral through her GP

[ladyalex]

Dentyl mouthwash might help....the stuff that when you spit it out afterwards you can see what it has taken off in the sink.....it can be a bit of a shock to see the amount of yuk that comes out, but that might be no bad thing in this case.
Follow the instructions for the mouthwash....you have to really shake it up first then keep swilling it round your mouth for at least a minute.....which is longer ryan you think.
Hope something works.

[ladyalex]

^than

[jennyjoan]

For your daughter to get rid of that terrible plaque and gunge - the dentist has to dig deep into her gums. It is very painful particularly if your daughter is so nervous. I had it done last year but got light sedation. Next time I would ask to get far heavier sedation - she said she couldn't get the sedation into me as arteries? were too thin. All in all she needs very much professional help. Bless her.

[Mosaic]

In the meantime, persuading her to floss, use interdontal brushes and also a good maouthwash can only help. Colgate do some blue n white plastic interdontal brushes which are very gentle, nicer to use than the wire-middled-sort. The routine of (obsessively) flossing and between-cleaning will inevitably help delay gum disease, and it's not too late now.
Oh, and defintiely an electronic toothbrush. Definitely.
And if she can do this, she'll hopefully get to the point where it doesn't hurt so much to have a 'major de-coke'.
Best of luck.