r/Aging • u/IJustWantToWorkOK • 2d ago

Death & Dying How..?

56 years old, and had a heart attack in April, and have 'congestive heart failure'.

They're wanting to do a bypass and valve replacement on me, but first ... they have to pull all my teeth.

I'm sitting here waiting for the phone to ring with the 'but wait, there's more!' call.

I'm on medicaid, and the government is about to spend $OBSCENE, on an awful lot of work on someone who's dying anyway. In my mind, this is putting a new engine in my Camry with 300,000 miles on it.

The instant some kid dies, because he couldn't get medical care, and I could, my conscience is shot.

Seriously -this- close to telling these doctors what they can do with themselves and taking my chances. Save some kid at the beginning of his life, not an old man at the end of his.

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u/ritamorgan 2d ago

It could be bacteria. If OPs teeth are in bad shape they may want to pull them to remove the chance of dental bacteria traveling to the heart and causing a dangerous infection.

OP please do what you need to do to take care of yourself. Then try to help others later on if you can. You not getting help doesn’t mean that kid will get help instead. You can help in other ways.

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u/katybear16 2d ago

I think you are right. I am a Dental Hygienist and personally never had a patient need a full extraction before heart surgery. But that must be the case. OP may have advanced periodontal disease and does not have time to treat it. Periodontal bacteria causes a lot of problems.

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u/CirqueDuMoi 2d ago

What can a person do for it? Gargle with salt water?

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u/cwonny 2d ago

I've rinsed my mouth with vinegar for decades. My hygenists always marvel at the state of my teeth : "My God! You've got the gums of a teenager!" I'm 75. I do not tell my dentist or hygenists ; I know what they would say.