Graves Disease and Gum Disease

[Davnic]

I was diagnosed with Graves Disease about 10 months ago. Am currently on 5mg Carbimazole and whilst I still feel awful my bloods are 'fine'. Just been to dentist and have been told my teeth, bone and gums have had an unusual significant decline in last year, and have been put on 3 monthly check ups (prev 12 mthly). Has anyone else any experience of Graves affecting teeth and gums?

[Fruitandnutcase]

Not once I was diagnosed but before that I had constant sinusitis that affected my teeth badly. I was always paying for extra x rays and for the dentist to squirt cold air on them and whack them with his instruments to see if he could find a source of pain but he never found anything. I seemed to get such a lot of pain and toothache and often earache in my upper jaw and I was sure there was something wrong - the answer was always the same - my teeth were perfectly ok, it must have been much sinuses so off to the doctor for antibiotics.

Once I was diagnosed and on carb the carb plus thyroxine all that cleared up so I tend to blame the Graves.

I have an NHS dentist but pay privately to see the hygienist every three months. Every time I go to her or the dentist ( once a year) they say my gums are in great condition. They ought to be considering how much I pay to keep them that way, there's the dentist, the hygienist, the electric toothbrush with regular new heads, the special fluoride free natural toothpastes, the little inter dental brushes I use every day. I have a feeling if I hadn't been doing all that my gums etc might be in poor condition.

I would have thought you should be starting to feel more human after ten months but I'm no expert, I'm just judging from my own experience and even that is different because my hospital treats with 'block and replace' - that's a big dose of carbimazole to wipe out the thyroid production then they replace it with levothyroxing which they then stop abruptly when your bloods reach a certain level.

When I collected my first prescription for carb - i started on 20mcg a day which was raised to 40mcg after a month and until I finished my treatment - the pharmacist came round to speak to me and told me all about the problems that could be caused by carb and told me to take a decent dose of vitamin C along with it so I always took 1000 slow release vitamin C with zinc with my carb.

Have you had your vitamin B12, vitamin D ferritin and folate so checked out? You need them to be towards the top of their ranges for you to feel good.

I found I needed a huge amount of rest (I was 65 when I was first diagnosed so it could have been my age) so i did very little and only things I wanted to do and generally treated myself like the invalid I felt I was. Eventually one day I felt like doing the things I used to do but my first post on HU was to ask if I would ever feel normal again and yes I did so hopefully you will too 😀

[Davnic in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Thank you. Endo is testing me for loads of things inc diabetes and arthritis as he doesn't understand why Im struggling so much. I'm only 44 but have no energy, muscle weakness, joint pains etc. It seems too much of a coincidence to me that the gum disease has come on and progressed so quickly in the same time span since I've had graves. Do you know if the vitamin levels etc can be checked on nhs or do I need to pay for a private test?

[Rush2112 in reply to Davnic]

Hi da nix

Sorry to here you to are still feeling ill I have just left a post before I found yours and was beginning to think it was only me I was diagnosed 11 months ago and although I do feel somewhat better I still don't feel good I'm so fed up and just want to get better perhaps it takes longer than we thought to get better

Do you think even if our thyroid is I range the graves antibodies could still cause problems

[Toodlepip in reply to Davnic]

Hi, I got my vitamin D tested by my GP who did a whole screen of tests and I also have B12 injections every 12 weeks - mine has been low for years but I think compromised by other autoimmune illnesses. I also have coeliac disease and recently been diagnosed with Sjögren's syndrome (causing me joint pain and weakness amongst other things). The way I understand it is that if you have one autoimmune illness you are more susceptible to developing others. I am lucky I have an understanding GP who tested for other things and it was my ANA profile test that showed the sjogren's. Sometimes I find it hard to see what is caused by what as some of the symptoms overlap but I have a good endocrinologist and a good rheumatologist and so I will keep plodding on and crossing my fingers! Crossing my fingers you feel better soon too 🌞

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to Davnic]

I had B12 done on the NHS and I imagine they would test feratin and folates on the NHS too. I just took vitamin C myself without having that tested.

Some people get vitamin D done by their doctor / endo but mine didn't want to do that so I had it tested by City Assays, there is a link for them in the TUK website. They are very good but you do have to pay

I found a soak in a bath with magnesium flakes and some lavender oil helpful when my muscles ache magnesium flakes.

Have you spoken to your dentist to see if he/she had any helpful ideas about your ulcers? I expect you have.

I found that when I reached a good place where I was having the correct amount of levo to replace the thyroid hormone that had been killed off by the carb everything seemed to sort itself out, my hair stopped falling out, my fingernails started to grow and stopped hurting, the pains in my muscles and joints - especially in my feet all sorted themselves out.

If you still feel awful I imagine that somehow or another no matter what the docs / endos say you aren't at the correct place in the range for you.

Because I had gone from hyper to hypo during my treatment. Not nice at all but it did give me the advantage of knowing whereabouts 'within the range' I felt best which was actually a real help because I knew I felt best when my TSH was well below 1 - once it crept higher I got symptoms again and when that happened I was able to ask for an increase in my levo and the symptoms would disappear again.

I imagine it is different for you because your carbimazole is being titrated rather than the way I was treated with block and replace where my thyroid production was wiped out then replaced with thyroxine until I was taking enough to feel well.

Have you posted your blood results for people to look at?

[Toodlepip]

Hi, I am 3 months into treatment for Grave's disease too and also now down to 5mg carbimazole (was on 20mg) - and still feel dreadful! Still - early days for me. I haven't been to the dentist for years (naughty, I know) BUT my bone profile blood test showed a lack of calcium and I was subsequently confirmed to be Vitamin D deficient (at a level of only 16) so that may be relevant?? Don't know if vitamin d and calcium are related strongly to hyperthyroid issues... Just a thought.

Hope you are feeling better soon. ☺

[Davnic in reply to Toodlepip]

Thanks Toodlepip. I hope you start to feel better soon. I know I felt worse before some parts started feeling better.

[Spareribs in reply to Toodlepip]

Well they're both strongly related to hypothyroid issues - I didn't post although I did experience hyper symptoms pre-nodule discovery.

I was low vitamin D3 (a seco-steroid, pre-hormone) and apart from experiencing joint, shin, rib pain I had very sensitive weak teeth which the dentist said wasn't lack of brushing/hygiene but suspected a very sugary diet - which I didn't have!

Since 2012 I only go once a year & no treatment needed - moreover no tooth/jaw ache either.... J

[Davnic]

Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions. My blood results are a bit of a sore subject currently. Hospital don't copy in GP who used to print them for me initially, nor will they give me the results 'because of the number of patients going through clinic!'. Latest I have from early May is partial results showing T4 14.7 and TSH 1.92 but no ranges although from previous tests T4 range is prob 9-23 and TSH 0.25-5.

After so long on this see saw ride, I'm not actually sure I remember what normal feels like, but I know it is not this. 😞.