Dental help

[AnnL]

My daughter 42 years old has had katamenial epilepsy since puberty, she frequently clamps down on her teeth during her grand-mal seizures. She is now to the point where her teeth are breaking off. She wonders if she got some sort of denture or implants if they would also break when she has a seizure.
A quandary for sure, anyone have any advice or experience with this problem?

[Endless]

Hi, Ann,

Welcome!

Sorry to hear about your daughter's teeth. Teeth are problematic for many people with seizures, both from clamping during seizures and because of side effects from some of the meds.

Dentists can provide a soft flexible dental guard that doesn't easily break, but it seems she'd have to wear it all the time, which may be problematic.

I'd ask her dentist about this - they have to have research on the pressure that implants or dentures can take before breaking. This can be compared to the strength of the human bite.

[Nakamova]

Hi Ann, welcome!

I agree with Endless, a dentist is a good place to start.

And is there a chance your daughter can get her seizures under control? Is she on meds at the moment? Catamenial epilepsy can sometimes respond to progesterone treatment -- perhaps you can ask her neurologist about that option.

Best,
Nakamova

[AnnL]

She takes Seasonale birth control to keep her hormones level, they have worked well in that she sometimes can go 5 months (luxury !) without a seizure.
Of course, the dental problems are from Dilantin and Tegratol she took when young.
She has an appointment with a Dentist who understands her problems, but we wondered if anyone had any problems with dentures etc., thanks for the feedback.

[Loopy Lou]

I have quite a lot of broken/damaged teeth, and at the age of 24 I already have some false teeth on a plate which I wear during the day. I have another broken tooth now, going to ask for some kind of mouthguard next time I go to the dentist. It's the only thing I can think of now to stop me being completely gummy! Mostly my (tonic clonic) seizures are nocturnal.

[elizzza811]

My teeth are sawed down pretty significantly from both nighttime grinding (seizures in my sleep?) and daytime clenching. I clench my teeth CONSTANTLY. I also have some weird gum tissue loss and teeth staining issues since developing epilepsy. With all the anti-seizure drugs that cause gum tissue overgrowth, this gum tissue loss MUST be significant. Here are some pictures...

PICTURE 1:

SEVERE recession of gum tissue around my lower teeth, mostly in the front. Also, note the dark brown-grey stains between the affected teeth. These stains have already appeared within a day or two of my professional dental cleanings, so there's no way they're from my smoking. I don't smoke THAT much in 2 days, and the only smoking-related staining I ever had to my teeth before this was a slight all-over yellowing...nothing major like this.

Also, note that my teeth are sawed flat from the constant clenching and grinding.

Okay, the pic...

http://postimage.org/image/175yi3750/

PICTURE 2:

This picture isn't too good because of the glare from the sun, but basically my gums dissolved around that one tooth. This area actually seems to have healed some, but obviously, the gum hasn't regrown any.

http://postimage.org/image/2d9s9qlwk/

[AnnL]

LOOPYLOU:- I am originally from Blackpool !!

ELIZZA881:- My daughters teeth and gums are in very bad shape, grey, broken teeth and receeding gums, all because of meds. of course. Wish they could come up with some fool-proof anti-seizure medication that had NO side-effects. We think extraction of all her top teeth and dentures may be the answer.