My last dentist appointment was scheduled for the week after Hurricane Ike plowed through this area, and the appointment never happened because the dentist’s office flooded. They moved, but I never rescheduled, etc etc etc, and that’s why suddenly two years had passed since my last visit to the dentist. I walked in this morning with no small amount of trepidation. Prior to the past couple years, I was very diligent about going in every 6 months, but after two years, surely they would have to scrape — and scrape and scrape — my teeth raw to remove all the plaque and tartar. NOT. FUN.
If my fears had been realized, I would have never dedicated a blog post to something as boring as the dentist. However, much to my surprise, my trip to the dentist this morning turned out to be quite the revelation. I was fascinated by two things in particular.
First, of course I had lots of tartar on my teeth, as I expected. But my dentist now has some kind of crazy ultrasonic pick thingy that acts like a tiny hammer (at least that’s how the hygienist described it) and knocks/vibrates all the tartar off your teeth. Which means basically NO scraping. Which means basically no pain or discomfort. Which means it’s about 1000 times less unpleasant. Which is awesome.
Second, they told me that a couple areas where my gums have receded are NOT because I brush too hard, in a reversal of what a dentist told me years ago. For years, I’ve thought it was my fault, and despite brushing carefully and softly, the couple spots still got worse. Today they told me it’s because of my bite! There are two spots where my bottom teeth go over my top teeth, and one spot where my teeth meet edge on, and that produces a lot of pressure, to which my gums are just reacting.
(Despite 4+ years of braces from about ages 11-15, my teeth have continued to shift over the years. The hygienist said they don’t tend to put braces on people as young as they used to. Sorry Mom & Dad. Though my teeth are still way straighter than they were before.)
So a couple teeth with a receding gum line? Not my fault! No more guilt complex about how brushing my teeth was somehow actually hurting them! This is big news.
Anyway, that’s way more than you probably wanted to hear about 1) the dentist or 2) my gums. So I will end this “ode to my newfound love for my dentist” here and you can all carry on with your days.
I also have receding gums in a couple places, and they keep telling me I brush too hard. In fact, in college, i had gum surgery, which involved peeling back my gums, putting new fake gum underneath, putting them back and sewing them up. The recovery was by far the most painful I’ve had from any procedure, dental or otherwise – and I’ve had some nasty dental work (4 impacted wisdom teeth, for example). Anyway, I have a bad bite also, always have. Orthodontics did not fix the problem, which most of my relatives on my mom’s side also have.
The waterpik dentists are AWESOME. I used to go to one that used it for the tartar removal AND for the polishing, too, so there was no icky paste involved. Loved that place.