I've been beefing up my dental hygiene routine by making sure the last thing I do before bed every day is floss. This has been working out pretty well for me since I have a battery-powered gizmo that does most of the work, and I do not want to lose my teeth. I have what could probably be diagnosed as a full-on phobia of tooth-related trauma. If I don't brush, I have nightmares about my teeth getting loose and coming out in slow motion, which is a perverse but excellent source of motivation.
That said, I bet you already know where this entry is going.
A few minutes ago I was going through my floss routine while watching some Battlestar Galactica, when I hit a snag between my front lower teeth. I've been pretty scared of the possibility of decay below the gumline since it usually feels rough between those two teeth and the floss sometimes catches, but having no insurance makes it a lot easier to hope the problem goes away on its own, so that's exactly what I've been doing to combat the problem.
This time that snag was more pronounced than before, and when I guided the floss back out, it caught up on something for a second. It came free, and then all of a sudden there were hard little pieces of grit in my mouth.
I spat them out in my hand for a closer look and one of them was shiny on one side. FUCK.
So I totally panicked and went whining to the roomies with my tooth-chunks and fear, and the general consensus was that my enamel has deteriorated and I need a dentist.
Jesse asked me when I had my last appointment with a dentist. I told him 1996. He said that's probably why my mouth is falling apart.
NOOOOOOOO! Postive thinking and mouthwash, you have betrayed me!
Meanwhile, my problems sleeping have made me fucking useless. I blew last week's update for the protest, and this one I basically sleep-walked through in a daze of exhaustion. How I envy people who have functioning circadian rhythms. My weekly battle with the infamous slow-creeping schedule flip means I rarely have any sense of time or continuity, and my work suffers the consequences. It's hard to get any usable ideas out of a head that's only half-awake, so if I'm not sleeping right, I'm probably not working either.
Maybe having to do 200 commissions to pay for dental repairs will stabilize things a bit, but I may end up having to buy an alarm clock and setting it so it'll alert me when it's bedtime every night.
(PS: Oh God oh God please don't let my teeth fall out)
March 25, 2008
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Your poor teefs. I gave up on my teefs after the dentist prescribed me an extra special mouthwash/tooth rinse that I had to do every night before bed, in addition to all the other stuff I had to do. Looking at my dad's mouth and seeing how he took so much care of his teeth and by 45 he was still spitting out broken teeth, and considering I've already had two root canals, I have a feeling dentures would be that much easier to take care of.
ReplyDeletety_ping writes...
ReplyDeleteThere is a good chance, you may be brushing too hard and flossing too much which is causing a receed in your gumline which may cause your teeth to fall out.
Don't stop brushing, just run your toothbrush under hot water to soften the bristles and see a dentist.
how much does a dentist cost in the America's these days? I went to one over Christmas and it was like 90$ for a check and cleaning.
But then again, I'm a Canadian.
And I've never had mouth problems (Thank GOD)
How were your parents teeth? Dental care is a lot about genetics too.
Ty:
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not flossing too much, more like the opposite. I can see a dark shadow between the teeth at the gumline, so I am pretty sure it's a cavity.
Mom had a bunch of molars out toward the end of her life due to peridontal disease, no idea about Dad since we don't really have much of a relationship.
I think this one is probably all due to neglect. For the most part, my teeth are pretty good.
If you qualify for MinnesotaCare, you can get at least some dental coverage:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/idcplg?IdcService=GET_DYNAMIC_CONVERSION&RevisionSelectionMethod=LatestReleased&dDocName=id_006255
Really, if you're a starving artist and have no excuse NOT to be on it, then it's definitely something you want to sign up for.
Above anon didn't get the whole URL.
ReplyDeleteAnd I second the suggestion.
http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/idcplg?IdcService=GET_DYNAMIC_CONVERSION&RevisionSelectionMethod=LatestReleased&dDocName=id_006255
ok fine then blogger.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/idcplg?IdcService=
GET_DYNAMIC_CONVERSION&RevisionSelectionMethod=Lat
estReleased&dDocName=id_006255
there. pbbbbttt :-p`
Son of a bitch.
ReplyDeleteWhy doesn't this stupid thing use the same typeface for writing the msg that it uses for posting it?
http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/idcplg?IdcService=
GET_DYNAMIC_CONVERSION&RevisionSelectionMethod
=LatestReleased&dDocName=id_006255
RARL:
ReplyDeleteI've got no advice for the teeth, but a fantastic way to get yourself back on a normal sleep schedule it via melatonin, you gen get a bottle of it cheap, (5 bucks) sold as a dietary supplement usually. (I know trader joes has it). you'd need to get the whole going-to bed-at-the-hour you-need-to thing down, but it gets easier when you're knocked out on command.
plan: take it a bit before a reasonable sleep-time, and then set an alarm for 8-9 hours, whatever your schedule allows. your body will start to fall into the sleep rhythm, and voila, cake.
it occurs to me that you might have tried this already, but I figured I'd suggest it. worked for me, and I used to be a chronic insomniac.
If you havent' had a cleaning in forever (like me...) it might actually be tartar buildup. YOu need to get it removed, for gum ehath, but it's not your teeth falling apart.
ReplyDeleteThis might make some sense, and it sounds REALLY familiar.
Marg: That is something to hope for!
ReplyDeleteThe bits were shiny on one side and crunched like broken glass between my teeth. I might as well find out whether calculus has those qualities while I'm working out the dental visit stuff.
I've got that sort of build-up on my bottom teeth. It flakes off and you can chip away at it with your fingernails sometimes. It shouldn't be strong enough to snag on your floss enough for you to feel it, though. I don't think it's shiny on one side, and it can be pretty crunchy, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteYou can actually scrape it off with anything thin and metal, but you'd have to be really, really careful. If you haven't visited a dentist for that long, then you should probably let a professional take care of it. Just to warn you, though, you're probably going to be in that chair for a long, long time. Dentists always take forever with the scraping and banging and buzzing evil metal instruments of impending doom.
Wow. Way to be encouraging. Geez LOL
ReplyDeleteBetter to go in with a fair warning than false optimism, IMO.
ReplyDeleteI would also second the possibility of calculus. I had some build up on my bottom front teeth on the inside for years. I think I actually went to the dentist on several occassions with it, and they never took it off, so I thought it was just my teeth being funny shaped and rough. But the last time the hygenist took it off, now my teeth are smooth and normal and the gumline is happy!
ReplyDeleteHey Anka--
ReplyDeleteI hope that's all it is! From your experience with calculus, was it brittle and shiny by any chance?
Well, I never had any chip off myself, as I am really terrible about flossing, and the toothbrush was never enough to knock it free, I suppose. So I cannot say for certain what it's structure/reflective properties were. Sorry. = (
ReplyDeleteI hope that is all it is for you as well though. Good luck!
You are aware that seeing a dentist is against the rules in the Church of Orthodology. If you continue down this path, you may be receiving a Suppressive Denture declare, and trust me, you do NOT want to get one of those. You'll be forced to live amongst the 2% of the world that does not want to see us furthering the betterment of enamel. But don't worry, for only $9000, the Church of Orthodology can put your teeth through an Introspective Gumline, which will not only cure all your ailments, it will also give you the ability to bite through solid steel!
ReplyDeleteROFL, Shinsetsu!
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point. What if my teeth have engrams from watching Luffy try to chew through a treasure chest one too many times?
OH NOES JAW THETANS.
huh. funny cause one of my front teeth chipped just a few days ago, and I'm noticing my teeth are starting to go crooked. but ow!!! poor teeth.
ReplyDeleteyeah, and there's brown gunk at the gum line. brush brush brush!!!
hope it gets better.