http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ Daily Kitten Chat Forum Topic: Mr. Leeny's mouth en Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:05:54 +0000 http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/10273#post-255812 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:10:48 +0000 Leeny 255812@http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ <p>We've got a blender, WWM, but we're not sure if it still works. If not, we'll buy one. I think they're going to provide pain medication, too.</p> <p>Azdeb, they were all very nice at the clinic. I think we'll do well there. </p> http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/10273#post-255811 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:01:53 +0000 AZDEBRA 5/27 & crew 255811@http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ <p>Makes perfect sense to me, with all his apprehensions and the habit of changing his mind at the last moment, it would be more beneficial all the way around. Best wishes to you both and to the doctors for taking this on and with such big hearts while doing it. </p> http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/10273#post-255807 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:40:35 +0000 WillowandWindismom 255807@http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ <p>Yes, I can see where you would have thought this to be a much more reasonable price then, Leeny. Anything that can be done on an outpatient basis is better. I wonder if pain control would be an issue with Mr. Leeny in you trying to care for him at home for the first day or so? Yes, I'm real familiar with mechanical soft diet. Do you have a food processor or a food chopper, by any chance? Of course, there's always milk shakes - it's amazing how much nutrition you can pack into a milk shake.</p> <p>It does seem to make sense, given Mr. Leeny's history, to go ahead and do all of the extractions at once. </p> http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/10273#post-255796 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:09:43 +0000 Leeny 255796@http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ <p>WWM, he would have to be on what they call a mechanical soft diet. My mother ate that during her hospitalizations after she had her colostomy; after that surgery, her dentures no longer fit. It just consists of foods that are either soft or chopped up very fine, anything that doesn't really have to be chewed. The procedure is expensive, but when they were talking about putting him in a hospital to have this done, I was thinking in terms of tens of thousands of dollars. Compared to that, this is inexpensive.</p> <p>2bp, a major part of the reason why they agreed that they should go on and take even the teeth that are still sound is because they knew that Mr. Leeny's very poor dental habits are not going to change. Even the sound teeth will decay within a few years, and they didn't want to put us through the trouble and expense more than once. </p> http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/10273#post-255781 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:53:19 +0000 2bpurring 255781@http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ <p>Well that is some good news..I know you are getting tired of this issue with him and now he would only be responcible for cleaning his dentures... </p> http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/10273#post-255780 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:53:05 +0000 WillowandWindismom 255780@http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ <p>Oh, my goodness, Leeny - that is so terribly expensive! But, that is an awful lot of extractions. How would he be able to eat at all with no teeth or dentures? Would it require just being on a liquid and pureed diet? I am so sorry that you are having to deal with all of this. </p> http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/10273#post-255771 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:48:30 +0000 Leeny 255771@http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ <p>Well, we went for the evaluation appointment today for Mr. Leeny's extractions and dentures. It was a large practice with many doctors, two of whom saw Mr. Leeny. Although they told us, as they are supposed to do, about all of our options, they pretty much agreed that in Mr. Leeny's situation the best thing to do would be to pull all of the teeth at once even though some of the back ones are not yet decayed. They also think it would be best not to give him the temporary dentures that are used these days and just let his gums heal with nothing in his mouth. I'm not sure why they advised this; I think the reasons had to do with Mr. Leeny's mental disability and the dry mouth that his medication gives him. The procedure can also be done in the clinic (the surgeon doesn't have priviledges at the hospitals here anyway) under light general anesthesia, the kind they use for colonoscopies.</p> <p>They gave us the minimum price for everything because we don't have any insurance to cover this. They're not going to charge anything for the IV anesthesia. The whole smash, which includes extraction of 27 teeth and a full set of dentures, will cost $4,639 if done by November 6; after that, the fees may increase. They accept Care Credit and gave me a pamphlet about that; also, a financial organization associated with my church's denomination may be able to help some, too.</p> <p>Right now, Mr. Leeny is thinking about it for a few days, as he always has to do when confronted with something major like this. He just has to get used to the idea before committing to it, and I will be investigating the financial arrangements while he's thinking it over. (He'd said at one point that he wanted to have it done in January so he could eat over the holidays. I told him that, if he put it off until then and the price went up, he'd be responsible for covering the difference. He's already having trouble eating, anyway; last night he had difficulty with a chicken casserole.) I'm just glad I'm not looking at having to pay a hospital for the rest of my life. </p>