Hello,
   I'm new here & and sure this has been asked, but 22,121 messages
came up when I subscribed !!  Thought I'd just start fresh with a new
post.

General History:    I'm 66 and have had disasterous teeth my whole
life (miracle they are still more or less attached).  My dentist
retired 5 years ago and I have been "shopping" with some very bad luck
with the two since him (painful dentistry, ill-fitting lower back
bridge that keeps breaking upper teeth, very ugly "rodent teeth"
bridge on lower front 5 (he carved out 6 in that chunk of plastic
where there were only 5 originally).   I have given up and gone to our
local dental school, not the student clinic, but the faculty clinic,
the dentists who treat dentists.  
   I have many crowns, root canals, and bridges.. not a single
pristine original tooth.  New dentist says all the top must come out
because of apparent infection at root bases & and a 4 tooth partial
will go into the bottom back (the side that doesn't already have one).
I already have 2 partials in bottom of 4 and 6 teeth, respectively.
   I also have a lump on the roof of my mouth (forget the name, but
it is not uncommon) that will have to be cut down for room for the
upper plate.

   I've asked a lot of questions and the general answer from the
dentist is "some people do, and some don't".  So just to hear some
experiences from the horse's mouth (no pun intended) I ask you denture
wearers:
-   Did they put in your upper plate immediately after pulling and was
there a lot of pain for a long time?

-  Could you talk okay?   Eat okay?

-  Do you wear them most the time, or go toothless for comfort?

-  What is the best way to care for them to avoid smelly teeth.  (My
step dad reeked of dentures.)

-   Does your tongue get claustrophobia?  My tongue seems to currently
fill my whole mouth... a big foreign contraption covering my gums and
roof of my mouth sounds like a ghastly (& irrevocable) prospect.

-  Can you eat most everything?  i.e. steak and almonds?  

-   When you eat, does food get crammed between that thing and the
roof of your mouth?

-   An attempt to save these teeth would have cost $13,000 plus!   And
the planned work is costing $8,000.   This is SOOOO off the wall.  In
the last 10 years dental cost seems to have soared out the wazoo.  Is
this par for the course in your area?

-  Any advice in general you can give?

Thanks very much.   Aren't newsgroups great!?
Kira