I put the big ol grin smiley with this post because my teeth are going to hell and it's good to see even a cartoon keeping theirs. ;-)

Here's the current regimen:
Effexor XR, 450 mg
Klonopin, 2 mg
Lamictal, 250 mg
Desipramine (Norpramin), 250 mg
Risperdal, 2.5 mg

It's been this way for a year or so with no changes.

I was inpatient Feb. 2004 and got put on the Desipramine shortly before going in. Every time they upped the dose, my dry mouth got enormously worse. It is now to the point that I cannot be more than 1 minute away from a source of liquid at any given time (seriously). A water bottle is my constant companion. I know that some of the other meds, not just the desipramine, cause this.

Because I didn't have dental insurance for the longest time, and never made enough money to afford it on my own, I didn't see a dentist for, oh, ... 17 years or so? You'd think my teeth would have been more of a disaster after all that time, but I only had 3 cavities.

However, I have a fair amount of bone loss and have the possibility of having to have a whole pile o' teeth pulled so they can replace them cosmetically, with bridges or whatever. I also have had sores on the sides of my tongue forever. I got checked out by an oral surgeon and an ENT both, and they both said the sores were from the dry mouth. Every dental specialist I've seen has said the shape my teeth are in can be attributed in part to the dry mouth.

So...what's a girl to do?! I feel like I can't win. I can either be going to the bathroom every 3 minutes, or ruin my teeth more by sucking on Jolly Ranchers (my hard candy of choice :-). Does anyone out there deal with this, and what are your tips and tricks?

Thanks.

Candy