Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Things I Learned Today...

...while sitting in a dentist's chair getting my six month cleaning:

  • I'm not flossing enough, which is why my gums bleed a lot during the cleaning - I vow to work on this!
  • I'm not brushing the inside of my teeth as much as the outside - I wanted to argue this one because I swear I do try to spend the same amount of time on both sides
  • My mouth is small (which I obviously knew) and the dental hygienist expressed out loud how it must be hard for me maneuver my toothbrush around the corners
  • What I call "chomping" is actually called "clenching" in dental terms
  • Said clenching does not require a mouth guard at this point, although my dentist did notice that my back molars are slightly worn
  • My dentist also told me that (yikes!) one night of constant teeth grinding equals 6 months of normal wear and tear (a bit dramatic) and that bad grinding/clenching over time will cause front teeth to chip from the pressure. He then followed these warnings with the thought that I didn't need a mouth guard because I wasn't noticing any problems with my jaw each morning
  • Mouth guards cost approximately $500 and are only effective when worn nightly, which prompted my dentist to crack a joke about how unromantic they are especially in light of Valentine's Day this weekend
  • My dentist is excited about a three day golfing trip he's taking to FL next week in which he scored a $90 flight back

All this learning was crammed into a mere 40 minute appointment.

3 comments:

Russell Sprout said...

I love blog shout outs. Especially shout outs about our fart talks.

Anonymous said...

You don't want a mouth guard - although you don't have jerky roommates who would deliberately try to make you talk while you were wearing it :)

bcallegra said...

CR - Fart talks are the best, especially when they're with you! :)

Underoo Elf - I think the dentist figured out correctly that a person who is too lazy to floss consistently would also be too lazy to maintain and wear a mouthguard. So even without the jerky roommates (shame on them, haha), it's definitely a no-go for me right now.