Now you're probably wondering why I'm being so up front with my dental history. Yeah, I don't really care. I'm not even exactly sure that whether it is exactly gingivitis or not. For all I know it could be gum disease, some kind of mouth cancer. Mouth cancer? Yeah I guess that sounds about right.
So why did this come up? I guess I haven't been to the dentist that much at all since college. Finally having some free time due to unemployment, and with only a few months with dental insurance, I decided to go for a not-so-periodic visit to the dentist for a cleaning. It became one excruciating hell of a cleaning. My current dentist isn't the most typical dentist out there. I'm not sure if it's because of the crazy technological boom in the last 15-20 years, but how often do you get to watch Wimbledon on a 15" LCD monitor while getting your teeth cleaned? Hmm. No? didn't think so. Moving on...as my dentist began looking around my mouth checking for cavities or decay, she just nonchalantly says, "oh you have gingivitis...you don't clean behind your retainer that much do you?"
I do my fair share of cleaning behind my retainer...just not the flossing part...yes, shame on me.
I've always been a thorough brusher anyhow, why did this happen in the first place? Ask my orthodontist who cemented a wire retainer on the bottom set of teeth that i have. It's been notoriously difficult to brush let alone floss in between those teeth. Oi. You know sometimes when you come home from a long day of work/doing homework or whatever, you just want to drop in the bed? Yes, sounds bad, but that's probably how it happened. It just ended up becoming a chore, and I just fell off on my flossing. Flossing is too complicated when you have to get individual floss threaders for your teeth. Floss threaders? Yeah...floss threaders. For those who don't know, floss threaders are exactly what you think they're for; threading your floss through. Yes, it sounds simple, but it's oh so complicated. I decided to do some research on ehow/wikihow (hehe such a reputable source no?...at least I'm not looking at Yahoo! Answers) on how to use floss threaders. Yes, quite complicated indeed. 1. Loop the floss through the threader. 2. Slip the threader through your teeth while holding both ends of the floss 3. Blah Blah blah.
It's pretty complicated for me okay? It's the complete opposite of using floss-ups? Theyre like little pieces of plastic with a piece of floss attached. Whoever invented these needs to get an award. Flossing has always been a two-handed pain in the ass. Floss-ups have made flossing a one-handed job, which most importantly let's one-handed people floss by themselves for once. For two-handed people, it frees up the other hand, to do other things like: using a q-tip to clean your ears, blow-drying your hair, putting on clothes, eating a snack, or pleasuring oneself...whatever.
My dentists and orthodontists over the years, as well as common knowledge state that you should make a trip to the dentist for a cleaning every six months. I thought this was full of crap for the longest time. This was some kind of scam by the dentists' associations to make some good money. Then again, if they really wanted the cash to flow in, I guess they would've recommended a dental appointment every three months or some shorter time interval. My logic kind of stems through some convoluted historical view. Cavemen, neanderthals, other old civilizations, and the like have never had the luxury of getting some Colgate Total Plus Gel WITH whitening or some Listerine pocket packs. Did they all lose their teeth by gingivitis or some other gum disease? Then again, these people only lived up to about 30, 35 years old; 40 tops.
By the time most people read this post, my gingivitis will be all gone, so no worries. Damn, now I can't slack off anymore with brushing/flossing my teeth. I guess my teeth have always been rebellious.
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