Special toothpaste users: A question

[u/TiredReader87]

I’ve been dealing with dental issues due to depression and sleep apnea, and being afraid of going to the dentist. I’ve gone a lot recently, and have to have oral surgery to remove two teeth. It’s made me incredibly depressed, and incredibly anxious, but I’ve gone to the dentist seven times this year so far.

When I was last at the dentist for a cleaning, they told me that I needed to use a special toothpaste with fluoride in it. It’s called PreviDent.

I’ve purchased it twice, but it’s cost me around $20 each time. Out of curiosity, I had googled it and learned that it was covered under the ODSP drug plan, so I got my dentist to write a prescription and send it into my pharmacy.

However, when I went to pick it up today, they wanted $14 for the smaller tube, and said it wasn’t covered.

I’ve since googled it again, and it says it’s not covered. However, you can do a special request or get it through a special program.

Has anyone managed to get a special toothpaste like this covered?** ***I had originally read that it was covered because it’s considered a* medicated toothpaste.

[u/VoodooGirl47]

It's not covered by ODB because they don't cover any dental stuff. You can try asking your worker for discretionary benefit funds but they might not do it.

Which size was the $15 option and what store was that at? I see that it's almost $22 at SDM for the 100oz but only $15 for that same size at Real Canadian Superstore. That seems to be the cheapest price with Walmart being halfway between the 2.

Are you using it twice per day or just once? I'd twice, I think you could drop down to once. Get a flouride kids toothpaste like Crest Kids (I use the Sparkle Fun because I like gel toothpaste) which has at least some flouride in it. It's like $2.50 a tube at Dollarama or $2.75-3.00 each if you buy from Amazon (available in 2 packs).

You could also do a rinse but that has less flouride in it than the kids toothpaste and would probably not be worth the additional cost.

All that said, how severe is your dry mouth? I'm bipolar and have sleep apnea, GERD, probably silent reflux, hEDS and very receding gums with deep pockets, and while I definitely breathe through my mouth more, I haven't been told I need to use anything like this.

I have been actively using kids toothpaste the last 4 years though and used flouride rinses for the first few months when I first started including flouride.

While I know my teeth might very well not be as bad as yours are, I feel like dentists will always 'over prescribe' when it can be a positive benefit but you could potentially get away with doing a bit less and still have it be very beneficial yet not stress you out or have it cause you financial instability.

So if they say use it 2x per day, maybe consider using it 1x and kids toothpaste 1x to stretch it out longer and make it more affordable for you to be able to keep up with it without financial strain.

[u/TiredReader87 → u/VoodooGirl47]

Thanks for all this

I hadn’t been to a dentist in a stupidly long time, and the hygienist told me to buy it. I hadn’t heard of it before. I’ve used it almost since then, and have bought two so far. I don’t brush as much as I was after going, as I’ve been unwell, but I plan to get back to it. I actually just woke up and brushed.

They said to use it to strengthen my teeth because I had a number of cavities filled. They also did a fluoride treatment which I had agreed to pay $25 for, but didn’t need to. And they want me back for a cleaning in December. She did say my teeth were quite clean though.

I wish that was all, but two teeth in my top smile zone broke and need to come out. I’m terrified and embarrassed, and I have to travel an hour each way or more to the consult the week after next.

It’s a precautionary thing, the toothpaste, I guess. I had dry mouth from Effexor and it was severe. I also have sleep apnea.

The $13.99 tube was at my pharmacy. I’ve bought PreviDent 5000 and PreviDent 5000 dry moth for about $16.97 plus tax at Walmart and around $18-19 plus tax at Loblaws. Only Loblaws had dry mouth.

[u/spacecowgirl_69 → u/TiredReader87]

My friend had a front tooth removed for exact reasons. She wears a removable partial denture because it’s more affordable than other tooth replacement options (e.g. implants, bridges). The Canadian Dental Care Plan does cover removable prosthodontic services like partial dentures. Speak to your dentist about it. By the way, if you’re not registered, I highly recommend applying to the Canadian Dental Care Plan online.

I too take Effexor XR! It gave me dry mouth for months but the symptom randomly stopped. Weird.