Dental Casts Foy My Fluoride Trays / April 16, 2017

April 16^th and it is time to go back to the dentist. This time they are going to make molds of my teeth. They will use these molds to make small trays that I can put in every night and soak my teeth in fluoride.  Apparently, because my saliva glands will be killed I have a higher chance of getting cavities.  The fluoride treatment will help fight these off.  When you only have a few teeth, this becomes kind of important.

When I get there, I get placed in the treatment room.  The first nurse comes in and asks if I have been instructed on my mouthwashes.  Well we all know how to use mouthwash, so I let her know I can figure it out.  Oops, I underestimated what she meant by mouthwash.  She pulls out a bag that looks like a science experiment.  She tells me that radiation will cause sores in my mouth and burn the throat and gums.  I have to rinse with a mouthwash every hour. Are you kidding me, that is a full time job in itself.  Then she tells me I have three separate mouth rinses and starts telling me how to mix them and when to use them.  As my eyes glazed over, she handed me a sheet with all the details on it.

I now have a mouthwash to help kill the bacteria and reduce the pain, a mouthwash that will help put moisture in my mouth and my favorite one, a mixture of salt and baking soda to help heal my mouth and tone down the acidity of the mucus that my mouth will be making.  

Now that I have that under control it is time to start making the molds.  The next nurse comes in with four caulk guns and two large metal trays shaped like the top and bottom of the mouth.  She uses one of the caulk guns and fills up this metal tray.  She then tells me she is going to make a cast of my upper teeth first.  She says that she will put it in and position it, once it is in position she will have me bite down hard for two minutes.  Now keep in mind this thing is designed to make a cast of a full set of teeth and she put enough of the caulk in there to do just that.  I only have a few teeth left, lets not be such an over achiever.

As she starts to put it in my mouth, she tears open an alcohol wipe and hands it to me.  She then explains that it smells really bad and tastes bad.  Some people vomit when they are trying to make the casts, so she recommended that I smell this alcohol wipe to cover up the smell to help prevent me from vomiting.  You can imagine how excited I was to put this thing in my mouth for two minutes.

Once she put it in, the taste wasn’t so bad and I didn’t have to use the alcohol wipe.  After she finished with the top teeth we did it all over again with the bottom teeth.  Problem with the bottom teeth is that you now cannot swallow and that goop was making lots of saliva in my mouth.  I just put my pride to the side.  I cupped my hands under my chin and just started drooling into my hands.  When she turned around, I think she felt bad and handed me a bunch of paper towels.

Now that this is done I just have to wait for my trays to come in and make sure they fit.