I'm in the same boat, but we are also very lucky. Could have been muuuch worse going by the pictures and after all that time without cleaning / brushing the teeth.
I too really didn't took care of myself when I was aged 14 up until I was 23 years old. Only brushed my teeth every few days sometimes only once a week. Looking back I definitely developed depression, anxiety etc. during that time. A lot of school violence, bullying and so on happened for many years. That's probably one of many reasons I didn't care for myself.
The crazy and sad part is, every dentist in my childhood / youth told me how perfect my teeth were. They really were. But I didn't care or really realized that. (there is also a possibility for having adhd, which doesn't really help for being conscious about yourself).
When i was 22 and living in my own apartment I still had some holes in some of my back teeth. I couldn't eat or drink sweet stuff without getting crazy pain in the holes for hours. Even THAT condition didn't move my ass to the dentist, even if i knew deep inside that I have a problem and it will get much worse in the future if I don't act now.
Luckily my new girlfriend back then kicked my ass while I was freshly in love (which killed the depression in that time) and convinced me to finally go to the dentist.
They pulled all wisdom teeth, a few absolutely broken back teeth and filled holes in the other back teeth. Luckily my front teeth were still alright and nothing had to be done there.
Now I'm 30 years old, still with my girlfriend (for 7 years now), and im just glad I can enjoy great food without having any pain anymore, lol. Definitely learned my lesson and I'm still thankful every day to my girlfriend, because she saved my ass back then. Brushing my teeth at least once a day for years now.
Fun fact:
Apparently I never had a bad breath during the bad times. I even made jokes and asked people / friends if they can smell anything. Dentist told me that it's often not the mouth that produces the bad breath, but that it comes from the stomach in many cases. Maybe I was just lucky.
And man, good thing I'm in Germany when we are talking about teeth, the dentist and health care.
I'm currently unemployed (Hartz IV) and I even could get up to 4 implants without paying anything or only a tiny fragment of the costs, as far as I'm informed.
I too really didn't took care of myself when I was aged 14 up until I was 23 years old. Only brushed my teeth every few days sometimes only once a week. Looking back I definitely developed depression, anxiety etc. during that time. A lot of school violence, bullying and so on happened for many years. That's probably one of many reasons I didn't care for myself.
The crazy and sad part is, every dentist in my childhood / youth told me how perfect my teeth were. They really were. But I didn't care or really realized that. (there is also a possibility for having adhd, which doesn't really help for being conscious about yourself).
When i was 22 and living in my own apartment I still had some holes in some of my back teeth. I couldn't eat or drink sweet stuff without getting crazy pain in the holes for hours. Even THAT condition didn't move my ass to the dentist, even if i knew deep inside that I have a problem and it will get much worse in the future if I don't act now.
Luckily my new girlfriend back then kicked my ass while I was freshly in love (which killed the depression in that time) and convinced me to finally go to the dentist.
They pulled all wisdom teeth, a few absolutely broken back teeth and filled holes in the other back teeth. Luckily my front teeth were still alright and nothing had to be done there.
Now I'm 30 years old, still with my girlfriend (for 7 years now), and im just glad I can enjoy great food without having any pain anymore, lol. Definitely learned my lesson and I'm still thankful every day to my girlfriend, because she saved my ass back then. Brushing my teeth at least once a day for years now.
Fun fact:
Apparently I never had a bad breath during the bad times. I even made jokes and asked people / friends if they can smell anything. Dentist told me that it's often not the mouth that produces the bad breath, but that it comes from the stomach in many cases. Maybe I was just lucky.
And man, good thing I'm in Germany when we are talking about teeth, the dentist and health care.
I'm currently unemployed (Hartz IV) and I even could get up to 4 implants without paying anything or only a tiny fragment of the costs, as far as I'm informed.
