I hate going to the dentist. I don’t mind taking the kids to their appointments, but I just hate going to mine. I don’t mind the cleanings, or the x-rays or any of that, but I hate finding out what condition my teeth are in. I just have bad teeth. It’s inherited I’m sure of it. My parents have bad teeth, most of my siblings have bad teeth, and I remember my dad telling me that my grandpa had bad teeth as well. It’s just genetic. Usually every time I go in for a check-up something is wrong with my teeth and that means having another appointment (or two) scheduled shortly after the check-up to get those other issues fixed. That was no different today.
I went in and they hygienist took some digital x-rays, then she probed my teeth to see how the pockets in my gums are doing. I have four crowns IN A ROW in my mouth and the gums up there have issues, sometimes the pockets up there have been 6 or 7 mm deep, this time the deepest pocket was 5mm, so YAY some improvement! Not a lot, but some. Then she polished my teeth and proceeded to scrape plaque off. Now I have to say, I don’t have bad teeth because I don’t take care of them. I do brush, floss and rinse with flouride (to help my teeth) in the morning and I brush, floss and rinse with listerine (to help keep my gums healthy) before bed. And I admit that I’m not perfect about it, but more often than not, that is my routine. But really it just feels like it doesn’t matter HOW much I brush or floss, or even rinse my mouth out….my teeth STILL have issues. In fact as the hygienist was scraping plaque off my teeth she told me that there was actually a lot less plaque there than she would usually find on someones teeth. So YAY, again my brushing my teeth is actually doing something and I’m not completely wasting my time. 🙂
After she flossed my teeth it was time for the dentist to come in, and this is the part of the appointment that I always dread. After looking at my teeth, then at the x-rays and then back at my teeth he determined that I have two new cavities, and one area on watch because it looks like it could turn into a cavity. At my last appointment he told me I needed another crown, but we decided to wait on it because our insurance won’t cover crowns. So we’ll wait until open enrollment Kyle will change to a plan that cover crowns and we’ll take care of it next year, so the dentist had patched it up for me so that I can get by until then. This time, I’m up to needing TWO crowns, the one that had been patched last time, and I had a tooth break (slowly because I didn’t even notice it breaking I just noticed the hole) and that one needs to be crowned as well. Dang it! And when I was pregnant with Chloe he had told me that I need to have my wisdom teeth out, but they don’t like doing that when you’re pregnant so that got put on hold too. And really I remember what Kyle went through when he had HIS wisdom teeth pulled out, and I REALLY don’t look forward to having mine out. But they haven’t finished coming up through the gums. They just seem to be stuck half covered by gum tissue and half exposed, so really they just need to be pulled out. Also if they were to finish coming up on their own I doubt that I would even be able to shut my jaw, there isn’t enough space back there for the wisdom teeth, and when I’m “teething” (which happens occasionally) my gums are so swollen back there that I can’t shut my jaw without major pain, so those teeth need to just come out, but that terrifies me.
So my end conclusion, going to the dentist is depressing. And my oral hygiene habits can’t really get much better than they are unless I brush each time I munch on anything, but really how am I supposed to remember to do that? And that might mean me being in the bathroom to brush my teeth for a good part of every day (what can I say? I like to munch!) So maybe I just need to increase my calcium intake…. Because maybe if I increase my calcium intake, my body won’t be robbing my teeth for calcium, and MAYBE that will help slow down the deterioration of my teeth….
But I can’t stand the aftertaste that milk leaves in my mouth (but maybe that would be a good incentive to brush afterward???) So more smoothies made with milk and more ice cream shakes on the menu please? Thank you! 😀
