Question: My problem is: My teeth are complete...

It sounds like there's more going on than just needing to get your teeth fixed. While in the long run that would be good for your health, it sounds like you're also suffering from Body Dysmorphic Disorder. I'm no psychologist, but the fact that this has led to a depression that did not allow you to finish school and stops you from looking from a job sounds a lot like BDD.
It might be a good idea to look into it. This is the just wikipedia page, but it's a start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_dismorphic_disorder
Hope that helps. :)

I actually disagree with this first comment. I've always struggled with my weigh....I weigh 230 but thank god I only look about 190. && I grew being very self conscious about everything and I know how bad it sucks. But I read something in a magazine awhile back that helps...&& it's NOT avoiding mirrors! What I do is stip down totally naked && look in the mirror at myself for a good long time every now && then...literally you should just sit there for a half hour and look at yourself. Eventually you'll find one thing you like about yourself...then another....then probably you'll eventually find more. Whether it's something as simple as your eyes(how it started with me) or something like your boobs or even your skin.....you have to find the things you feel good about && focus on those. Some days I still look in the mirror like "I'm so fat && ugly I just wanna change" but I force myself to think about my good features && in the end walk away feeling okay with myself. You can't dwell on the negatives...it takes too much time && energy && just leaves you hating yourself in the end. Focus on the positive parts of you && even the parts you don't like you'll be able to start appreciating more.

I HAVE BEEN WORKING AS A CERTIFIED DENTAL ASSISTANT/ EXPANDED FUNCTIONAL DENTAL ASSISTANT FOR THE PAST 12 YEARS, OUR OFFICE WORKS WITH SEDATION PATIENTS ALL THE TIME THERE SHOULD BE NO EMBARSSMENT ABOUT YOUR TEETH, WE SEE ALL AGES WALK IN THE DOOR FROM THE 3 YEAR OLD CHILD WITH EVERY TOOTH IN THERE HEAD WITH DECAY TO THE 98 YEAR OLD LADY GETTING IMPLANTS, AND I DONT SEE NEGLECT OR BLAME A THING ON YOU... IT IS WHAT IT IS AND HOW CAN WE HELP YOU TO GET TO THE PLACE YOU WANT TO BE, OUR OFFICE HAS A BUNCH OF PAYMENT PLANS TO WORK WITH INCLUDING GOING TO THE CLINIC OR THE SCHOOLS, OUR JOB AS A DENTAL OFFICE IS TO HELP YOU, NOT MAKE FUN OF YOU, ITS PATIENT EDUCATION. PLEASE IF YOU GO TO ANY DENTIST AND FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE OR THEY ARE TREATING YOU BAD GET UP AND WALK OUT THE DOOR OR JUST TELL THEM IM NOT A IDOIT AND I DONT NEED TO TAKE THAT FROM YOU, I HEAR ALOT OF DENTIST THAT ARE THERE TO MAKE MONEY AND IT URKS ME DONT GO TO THE YELLOW PAGES EITHER WORD OF MOUTH IS THE BEST.DENTURES ARE PROBALLY THE BEST OPTION FOR YOU FOR NOW IT GIVES YOU A GREAT SMILE AND YOU CAN ALWAYS GET IMPLANTS DOWN THE LINE WHEN YOU ARE FINANCIALY STABLE, I SEE PEOPLE 50 YEARS OLD GOING THRU THIS AND WISH THEY WOULD OF DONE IT WHEN THEY WERE YOUR AGE..ONCE THIS IS TAKEN CARE OF EVERYTHING ELSE WILL FALL INTO PLACE YOU WILL SMILE AGAIN....

I've been where you are, only ten years ago. The dentist I saw at the time was the worst dentist I had ever been to. I was out on my own for the first time (19 years old and living on my own) and my parents were convinced dentists were a waste of time and money, so I'd never been to one before. My visit was painful and embarrassing, and the dentist treated me as if I were stupid (I was and always have been an honors student). I learned from my mistake - I had gone to the first dentist I saw in the phone book because the pain in one of my teeth was making it impossible to eat.

This past summer, I was confronted again with unbearable pain, and it was in multiple teeth. I'd had a dentist in between the first one and my current one, and she was wonderful, and my dental work never hurt when she did it. However, my husband and I filed for bankruptcy five years ago, and she was one of the people we owed money to when we filed, so she lost about $1500 on us, and understandably, no longer wanted us as clients. I had to find a new dentist.

I took my time, did my research, and found a dentist who seemed to fit the needs I had - considerate of my situation, compassionate, and dedicated to keeping patients comfortable. The only qualm I had was that I was afraid the work was going to be expensive...even his OFFICE looks expensive. It's very plush, very modern, and very comfortable. The work ended up BEING expensive. I had to have three wisdom teeth pulled (I never had a fourth one), one of which was impacted. Those were the primary teeth causing my pain. I also had 17 cavities, and three of those were also causing pain - one was nearly to the nerve. On top of the wisdom teeth and the cavities, I also learned that I have the early stages of periodontal disease - that was what was making it painful to brush my teeth or to eat with my front teeth. Periodontal disease is serious, requires treatment for the rest of your life, and if left untreated can result not only in tooth loss but loss of bone in your jaw, which leads to other complications. My treatments were spaced out over a month and a half, with an appointment pretty much every week. The cost ended up being over $6000 - and even though I HAVE insurance through my husband's work, the insurance only paid $1000 of it.

Thankfully, the dentist I chose also understood this, and he knew before I did that the insurance would not pay for much of my care; dental insurance often doesn't, I discovered. He was able to help me get financing through Care Credit, and I pay them $144/month. He sat down with me in a preliminary meeting to go over my dental and medical history, to understand my concern about dentists and the bad experience I had, and to explain what they had for payment options since 99.999% of people cannot afford to pay their bill upfront. Then he did an initial exam visually and with x-rays to find out exactly what was wrong and how much work would need to be done - I paid $6 out of pocket for that visit, because even minimal insurance usually covers routine check-ups. (Mine is not great at all, which is why they didn't cover the routine check-up 100% >_> ) He drew up an accurate estimate of what my dental work would cost in total before he did ANY work - that way I could see exactly what he was going to be doing and what it cost. I am super-happy with my current dentist and am glad to recommend him to others who ask me for a dentist.

It is absolutely worth it to do the research and find out what your options are. If you don't have a job with any dental insurance at all, contact your state and local health and human services agencies to find out what you might qualify for. Ask them WHY they think you're still covered by your parents (usually it's because your parents are claiming you as a dependent on their state and federal taxes; once you start filing as an independent, this will be less of an obstacle for you). Also, as other posters mentioned, look into local area dental schools, community colleges and other options that are available for low-income persons. (This is not widely known, but many community and technical colleges not only offer low-cost dental work if they have a Dental program, but also offer low-cost hair cutting and styling if they have a Barber/Cosmetology program. Some with Auto Maintenance programs offer low-cost auto repair and maintenance. They can do this because it is students who are doing the work; however, the students are under the supervision of a teacher or administrator, and they are usually in their practicum or final stages of their education and need the practice to help refine their skills. Ask around to find out what's available.)

There are ALWAYS options for help and to keep you moving forward in life. Don't let yourself feel dragged down because of your appearance or fears - once you overcome this stumbling block, you'll find more and more doors open to you.

Ok, i know pretty much exactly how you are feeling. I'm 14, i'm overweight, I'm home-schooled, and i have no clue if i will ever get a boyfriend or if i will be a success in my future life.
But you have to focus on the good things. You have friends (and don't tell me you don't because everyone has friends), you have a boyfriend, etc
Me, i'm a Christian. I have a bunch of awesome friends, I have the great and Almighty God, I am going to Heaven when I die, I have a great family and whether i get a boyfriend or not is irrelevant at this point. I have a whole life ahead of me. You are in your prime! Just have safe, healthy fun with your friends, and your life.
btw, have you been to the dentist? he can fix your teeth. braces, plates whatever! i had them and i am soo glad i did. If you need to get fillings, so what? So you will die with a few dollars less.

Wow, this one hits a little to close to home for comfort. When I was a kid, the dentist my mom took me too was horrific. (Which she didn't realize until too late. She thought I was just being a whiner) He never pulled my baby teeth, saying they would come out on their own. Sure they did, right after the adult teeth had grown in behind them! Even though my mom nagged me about taking care of my teeth, I was already looking forward to dentures by the age of 12. How sad is that? I was already so ashamed of my teeth that I stopped taking care of them altogether. So by 19, when I realized how important they actually are, it was too late. I brushed them on and off for a few years, but then it got so incredibly painful to brush, I stopped completely by the age of 22. My teeth are atrocious! And my husband and I don't have the money to get them fixed. When I got pregnant, that did it in for me. When I smile, I do it with my lips closed, instinctively, because all those years as a child being ashamed of my teeth, I had trained myself to do that so people wouldn't see them.

I have gained SO much weight because I'm unable to eat properly. I can't eat apples, oranges, carrots, corn, rice, popcorn, tuna, salmon (well, any fish really) and that's just because of my teeth, and only a small list. Not to mention that because of what the first jack@@@ did to my teeth, I didn't have a bite. Literally, my front teeth don't touch. I can stick about a quarter of an inch of my tongue through them. So I can't really bite through things. I have about 6 teeth that touch in my entire mouth. That doesn't make for very good chewing. And as I understand it, proper chewing is part of a healthy digestion.

What makes me the most sad about all of this, is not how it affects me. It's how it affects my son. Because I've never had a habit of brushing, it's hard for me to remember to brush my son's teeth. I don't want him to go through the same things his father and I did (his father had dentures by the time he was 22 because of bad teeth).

I wish there would be more public health notices about teeth, perhaps we can all stop the cycle and have a better future for our children's mouths.

Hey; I dont really know about how to get your teeth fixed but I do know this; If you let your teeth get in the way of youre life your going to regret it! I always hated my teeth! I would never smile or laugh or do anything involving my teeth, BUt after a while I relised that with out smiling life just isnt as fun. I dont know what your teeth look like but I'll tell you this, nobodys gunna bug you if you have bad teeth just smile! People wont notice your teeth they will notice you smile~! Thats what happend for me. And even if you do get bugged, whatever it dosnt matter what other people say you should just smile and go back to school before its to late. Just set goals for your self! To raise your self esteem (i know this is cheasy but it works) Make a list of all the thing you like about your self and read it over and over it will make you feel better and relise what you like about yourself! You cant go back in time so dont regret what you did or didnt do when you were young ! You just gotta be your self! You, and ever girl who has low self esteem, needs to relize that we are all different and unique and beautiful ! One last thing, SMILE!!~ Good luck :)

Being in the same boat you are Hon I can give you this advice. Contact the nearest Dental College and ask them how soon you could get in to see one of their students. However this can still be costly. I live near Meharry Medical College in Tennessee. They have a clinic for people who don't have a lot of money to spend for dental care. However they can only slash prices so far and some major procedures that cost a lot of money may still be quite expensive. Ask the clinic when you call if they have a listing of Dental Clinics that base their rates on a sliding scale. Sometimes you can find charities where volunteer dentists open clinics on weekends to help those of us who aren't privileged enough to afford dental care. However, as you were growing up it was YOUR parents responsibility to take you to the dentist regularly for cleanings as well as make sure you maintained proper dental hygiene. If they did not do so then you should not accept the entire blame. Yes once you got to a certain age you should have known better and taken care of your teeth but your parents NEGLECTED to properly care for you. Bad teeth can lead to SERIOUS health issues they should have made sure to prevent those issues from coming up by taking you to the dentist. I deal with the health issues from my bad teeth everyday. The poisons entering my body from my bad teeth are weakening my heart, causing me to lose too much weight and keeping me sick all the time because of the lowered immunity caused by poor dental health. My teeth break off very easily and I have a sensitivity to anything Hot, Cold, or Sugary. I am counting down the days until I get in for my appointment to see the dentist. Unfortunately mine are so bad I will need to have them pulled and dentures are going to cost me around $1500. Keep in mind that I am ONLY 26 years old. Get your teeth fixed NOW before you face the problems I have to deal with on a daily basis. Then finish out you high school education. Either by getting your GED or finding an Adult High School in your area. Promise yourself that from this point on you won't let anything stand in the way of your happiness and success in life. Then live everyday doing your best to keep that promise to yourself.

You cant let it stop u let it impower you...now that u are over 18 the rules may be different for u since u dont have a job, depending on ur state, u may be able to get medicaid now u should go down and atleast apply...trust me its worth it! Get ur teeth worked on and then u can get a job. Also u can study for ur GED, there are classes u can take. A GED is considered equal to a high school diploma. I know its hard but u have to decide if ur going to move on or let ur problems run ur life forever...

Some Dentist allow payment options. I'm without any insurance/coverage of any kind, and have to pay a total of over $5000 for braces and other work. Obviously I can't afford to fork over that much at once so my dentist and i worked out a payment plan, kind of like a phone bill or car payment. First step, get some counsiling. Anxiety is a much more common issue than people give it credit for. Drs will tell you again and again "talk about it." It's scary at first, but keep at it and it will get better. Talking about it helps you to recover, because you're facing what's scaring you and debilitating you. Next, get a job. Then approach your dentist. There are also so very many grants and benefits offered. Speak with someone from your hospital or look around online, apply for the Adult Health Benefit. It doesn't cover everything, but it takes the bite out of the costs.