Teeth are very important. Most people hate going to the dentist, they find someone digging in their teeth under a bright light unsettling, intrusive. I love it. I see taking care of my teeth as an investment into my future health. Brushing my teeth, flossing, gargling mouthwash makes me feel good. Just like a long, hot shower properly brushing your teeth make your mouth feel fresh, clean and most importantly healthy. As a result, a trip to the dentist is a reassurance that I am properly caring for my teeth and of course a professional cleaning. I am proud to say that I have never had a cavity, and am overall very proud of my teeth. I do of course relate to people who are less fortunate than I. The quality of my teeth was not always perfect. In fact, in elementary and middle school I had to have over eight fully attached teeth pulled from my mouth. These healthy baby teeth needed to be extracted. In normal cases, a baby teeth start to fall out between the ages five to seven years old and they continue to fall out until you turn about 12. My baby teeth didn't want to come out. It wasn’t their fault but rather the permanent teeth whose job is to push out and replace the baby teeth had failed. My adult teeth grew in behind my baby teeth rather than underneath which is normal. This resulted in my having two rows of teeth for a period of time. The image is very reminiscent of a shark. My parents wanted to wait for my teeth to push forward and eventually push out my baby teeth, but my dentist recommended just pulling out my baby teeth. When I arrived at the dentist office, I wasn’t sure what to expect. My dentist sat me down, showed me the x-ray showing that my adult teeth wouldn’t push out my baby teeth and began the procedure. My dentist poked me with a needle and my whole mouth felt numb. He then got a pair of pliers and started to pull. I was incredibly surprised, even in 7th grade I visualized modern dentistry to be more advanced than just “make it not hurt” and “PULL.” My hope of a modern robot pulling my teeth was dashed and I had to deal with what was available. You may not know but just like icebergs, teeth are much larger under the surface than above. The roots of a tooth hold it in place and supply nutrients, they also make normal human teeth look like monster teeth when not hidden under gums. So since none of my baby teeth had lost their roots, my dentist was pulling monster teeth from my mouth and all I could do was look at the pliers with amazement. Particularly while pulling the last tooth my dentist couldn’t get a good grip and chipped it while trying to get it out. For a split second I thought he chipped a healthy tooth and I got extremely nervous and scared. But on the second attempt, he pulled out the chipped tooth and showed me the chip and the root. “That was a stuck one,” he said. I didn’t respond just drooled on the towel covering my shirt. My only dental procedure was done just like that. The recovery was simple and all my teeth moved to the proper places. Looking back I am grateful for the procedure it allowed my teeth to fill in naturally without braces and in my opinion my teeth look alright. But ever since getting my teeth pulled I have spent an extra minute flossing or gargling for a second longer despite the alcohol burning like hell in my mouth. I care for my teeth and I hope they will take care of me.
I also have a slight obsession about dentistry. I have a family member that didn't take good care of their teeth, and had many cavities, needed braces multiple times, and are on their way to dentures. Because of this striking influence on me, I make sure to brush and floss twice a day, because I don't want to end up like my relative. I've never had a tooth pulled, and after hearing about your experience, even if it didn't hurt much, I definitely don't want to.
ReplyDeleteI am not going to say I love going to the dentists (I hate the smell of the place), but I don't dread it. When I was younger almost all of my teeth had cavities (Due to my lack of resources to wash them with) so my mother had to take a 4 year old and get roughly 8 teeth filled in. You can imagine that did not end all to well, all i remember is that i balled my eyes out (poor dentist). I lost my first tooth in kindergarten or 1st grade and steadily lost them since then. Some of my teeth adult teeth haven't grown correctly but it is nothing that braces would fix or anything. When I'm older I'll be given the choice to have them pulled and replaced by something or just keep them. In case you're wondering the teeth are the in the front and they a obviously small an quite sharp.
ReplyDeleteMy dad shares a similar dental care obsession. He's always brushing his teeth, flossing, washing his mouth, and using a waterpik. He loves going to the dentist because, like you, he appreciates the reassurance that he's taking care of his teeth. Even though I like taking care of my teeth, I hate the dentist. They're way too intrusive and, like Alex said, it smells weird. One of my greatest fears is having my tongue/gums stabbed by a needle during surgery. Luckily none of that happened in this post.
ReplyDeleteIt is kind of weird how there isn't really an easy way to pull out teeth other than yanking it with pliers, I expected something more smooth like slowly loosening it or something. I recently have started brushing my teeth after meals and it does feel really good to clean your teeth and get all that gunk out. Good post!!!
ReplyDeleteI've also never had any problems with going to the dentist. When I was younger I had a couple of cavities but since then I've been more careful. I remember them putting a needle in my gums for the anesthetic and then just sitting in a chair for an uncomfortably long time, which was pretty unpleasant. I'm so glad I've never had to have any teeth pulled though, because that sounds absolutely terrifying.
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