[code"> [/code"> Courtenay Brown: Neverending Dental Saga

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Neverending Dental Saga

I have been eating this semi-delicious bread lately that has lots of seeds and nuts in it. Whilst eating a sandwich the other day I felt an uncomfortable sensation in one of my teeth. Whilst flossing last night I noticed a crack across the top of one of my bottom molars which has previously been root-canaled and crowned.

As you can imagine: freakout commenced, replete with tears.

I brush my teeth multiple times a day with an electronic Oral B toothbrush. I replace the head on this toothbrush every 3 months like you are supposed to. I use super-flouridated toothpaste. I even FLOSS at least once a day. I don't eat candy or sweets, unless you count the occasional piece of dark chocolate or big sweetened americanized coffee concoction. I do everything right, right?

UGH I HATE MY TEETH. DOES ANYONE WANT TO TRADE. YOU CAN HAVE MY TEETH AND A YEAR'S WORTH OF HOMEMADE COOKIES AND TOOTHPASTE. I WILL EVEN THROW IN A BIG HEALTHY BLACK GOLDFISH TO SWEETEN THE DEAL.

Really I do hate them. I think there are at most like 2 teeth in my mouth that have not needed some sort of expensive dental work. It was for this reason I switched to HEED sports drink last year, it uses maltodextrin as a sweetener so it's better for your teeth, but our team was sponsored by a different product for races, I got sick of the taste of HEED, and I basically got lazy and miserly and started using whatever product was cheapest/free. I know that a crown doesn't just randomly break on its own because you are chewing something, there has to be weakness and decay in there already. So somehow something is messing everything up even though I spend approx. 10x more time than Greg on my dental hygiene, and guess who has no cavities in this family...

Anyhow I have an appointment with a dentist in Reno tomorrow, he also happens to be a triathlete. I am hoping that we will thus be kindred spirits and consequently a. he doesn't lecture me because I have heard it all before and b. he doesn't charge me an arm and a leg. Also, conveniently, the fish store is very close to the dentist and I called them and they said they'd very happily "rehome" Stupidhead for me!!

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5 Comments:

Blogger Goodwyf Allie said...

Don't even talk to me about bad teeth! Three of my five kiddo's have needed dental surgery because of rampant early childhood toothdecay. The story is similar--no soda, candy etc to speak of. Home made everything with whole grains. Still--rotten teeth. It was so bad with Thaddeus that that they couldn't even fix them--he has a BIG gap in his smile.

Around the time I found out how bad Mary Catherine's teeth were (and was flouriding and brushing ALL THE TIME) I asked a friend with a daughter a year older how often she brushed her child's teeth. "oh. I guess I should start brushing them soon huh."
The girl (now 13) STILL has no cavities. . .

SO. . .in the grand scheme of things--bad teeth are not the worst. My kids have nice faces,healthy bodies, beautiful spirits, and all the benifits of first world dental care--and so does their Aunt!

BTW--new email is goodyallie@comcast.net.
Love ya!

7:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hate to say it, but i NEVER floss, brush 1-2 times a day (really - who has the time?!) eat sweets waaay too much, and have...zero cavities. my dentist even told me i don't have to get them professionally cleaned every 6 months! ha! however, i did just find out i need $7000 worth of orthodontics, so i guess my tooth-bragging days are numbered.

7:39 AM  
Blogger Gilby said...

Maybe the solution is a dental sponsor for the upcoming race season?

8:24 AM  
Blogger Goodwyf Allie said...

Totally unrelated. . .court--did you read the Goops with sal like I did?
Check out this blog!http://courtesybeginswithchildren.blogspot.com/2008/01/introduction.html

10:05 AM  
Blogger EB said...

That sucks! Mr. Man has really bad teeth, too, and when he was in college he brushed several times a day until his dentist told him that he was actually damaging his enamel by brushing so much. He is also supposed to only use soft-bristle brushes for the same reason.

My only advice is to not use your teeth in place of tools -- no matter how healthy they are otherwise they will break :(.

12:19 PM  

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