You and I are in the same place, girl. Except that I live in Milwaukee, and Marquette has the only dental school in the entire STATE. Supposedly, since it's a teaching school, it's supposed to be state-of-the-art, blah blah blah.

My teeth have shifted horribly over the years, and now my two front teeth really stick out and there's a big gap between them. I have a bunch of loose ones on the bottom as well, which I was told would probably have to be replaced.

After going through every dentist and -ontist of various flavors, I wound up with a prosthodontist a couple weeks ago. He told me the same thing everybody else who saw my xrays told me, that I have "short roots" and that "limits the possibilities." He told me they couldn't do bridges or crowns because of it.

Now, my mother, before getting dentures, had partials that she popped in and out -- they weren't fixed. Supposedly they can't permanently anchor anything to my teeth because of my bone loss. Why they can't give me a partial that I can take in and out, I dunno.

The first guy had a second one come in to take a look. He said, "your only option might be implants."

Now. Implants take the better part of a YEAR to be finished, and they cost around $2000 apiece. I need 8 of them, 4 top and 4 bottom. 16 grand is roughly what I paid for my CAR. I make $13 an hour. I don't know where they think I am getting 16 grand. My mom and 2 of my sisters started this whole thing by offering to pay for some of the work, but while all of them have bucks, I don't think THEY"RE going to pony up 16 grand either.

In the meantime, I am so self-conscious about my teeth I can't stand it. It's doing a number on my already-horrible self esteem. I don't know why it has to be so hard to fix. The prosthodontist took some impressions and is supposed to call me sometime this week with what he can possibly do next. He told me I "might just have to live with it."

Sigh.

I feel your pain, hun.

Candy