My pearly-whites done good. Or, maybe it was I who done (did) good (well)--sorry, sometimes good grammar has no punch at all. The first of all the
Things I get to do today is head off to the dentist for that twice yearly checkup and cleaning. But now I'm back (patting myself on my back). I had a great time there, though this appointment included measuring the pockets around and between the teeth.
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| The flashy flower that started it all. |
For once, and this undoubtable the very first time, there was no underlying guilt or dread attached to revealing the inside of my mouth. Since the first part of October, my mouth and teeth have been getting much finer care and attention. See "Tooth Fairy Flower," of 10/9/11, "I Want to Keep Them All," 11/22/11, and "Tea Tree Teeth," 1/15/12 for details of the full journey up to now.
After describing my new oral hygiene regimen to the dental hygienist, we both waited eagerly as she checked the pockets around each tooth. Cheers erupted four or five times as areas that were "4" now measured "3" or less with no bleeding gums. And it took hardly any time at all to remove tartar (less pain for me) since those deposits were smaller and thinner.
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| Whiter Pearlies |
So it looks like I'm committed to the program. It took a long while to fully engage my energy on this one. I'm hearing the Beatles in my own version of "Will you still brush me, will you still floss me, when I'm 64?" Oh, Yes, Baby! I'm planning to stay with you forever.
Thank you Dr. Julie Furber and Dr. Elisabeth Kierkegaarde for all your encouragement.
flossing! that used to induce almost as much guilt in me as someone asking me, Have you called your mother...YET? Dr. Weinberg, my truly handsome dentist for many, many years, once told me, after he had thoroughly cleaned my teeth and appropriately attended to my gums, "Karen, there is so much blood in your mouth because you don't floss that i think i'm working on Dracula!" i laughed but he didn't.
ReplyDeleteall that changed some years later when the temp dental hygienist at his office asked me about flossing. of course i lied: "yes," I said, "I floss but not regularly." translation: I flossed this morning just before I came in. "Well," she said, merrily digging and scratching away on Dracula, "a patient told me that she flosses in the shower--never forgets." floss in the shower? what a great idea! i already brushed my teeth in the shower -- why not? i knew where they were (my teeth, i mean), there was running water that i wasn't really wasting since i WAS showering, and a few minutes more in the shower was my idea of morning heaven.
so that's what i've done ever since, brushed and flossed my teeth in the shower. i never forget. i'm no longer Dracula (maybe the Bride of Frankenstein--as i get older, there are larger streaks of grey in my fussy head of hair, not quite as striking as the Bride's but hey! mine's natural...if i let it be). i've even got my dentist to tell his other patients my trick.
so i pass it along to you, the Handy Andy Brigade: brush and floss in the shower -- you know where your teeth are, and if you don't, buy one of those fogless mirrors to help men shave in the shower since they must not know where their whiskers are.
DANG! Girl, you could be writing this blog. What a great idea! Just a note: I've heard that over all red-heads bruise and bleed easier. True? Who knows? I used to use that as my excuse for the bleeding gums. But it was Julie's statement of: floss only the ones you want to keep, that moved me forward.
DeleteThere are very few things in life I dread more than going to the dentist. So, I floss and brush (with some fancy spinning brush), regularly. Even so, I have my own nose piece for the very necessary gas that she gives me, just to clean my teeth.
ReplyDeletedearest andrea, fellow red head:
Deleteyou may be right that we bleed and bruise easier; we are special in so many other ways, why not that one too!?!
Oh, Pam. That could be challenging to live with. Glad you found a way to soothe it.
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