confessions of a 20-something dental care addict
So a little while ago, I received some prescription whitening toothpaste from my dentist, via my mother, who gave it to my aunt, who came to visit me. I don't know why he gave it to me... but it's a full tube, and it's damn fancy looking. It reminds me of salon shampoo, like Redken or something, haha. But it's just encouraging my drastically increasing oral hygiene neurosis. I think my teeth might actually be getting whiter, but I have no way of telling. They feel whiter, though.
I have a weird relationship with my teeth. I've become sort of obsessive-compulsive about them. I think it all started with my mom. She was trying to get me to use an electric toothbrush, but I was really opposed (I'm a minimalist, what can I say). But I agreed on the condition that my dentist told me it was proven to be better (I mean, I figured he wouldn't lie to me, but who really knows with dentists...). So I asked him, and he went off on a whole sermon about how there were all sorts of different tests done and many even by independent researchers, and they were definitely better. He even explained why they were better--not only than my manual toothbrush, but any possible manual toothbrush operated by any possible person.
So that was that. But it was just the beginning. You have to understand, my mom has very bad teeth because she used to take very poor care of them (they were like living in poverty when she was a kid and stuff), so now it has caught up with her. Ever since I can remember, she has taken crazy good care of her teeth. She even bought one of those horrifying little scrapers and a mirror-on-a-stick to go with it. Eee, those things give me the heebie-jeebies. At any rate, because of her, I think this dental care consciousness has been latent in me for some time now. But when I got the electric toothbrush, my life didn't change dramatically. I mean, I brushed, and it was fine. At this point, I was brushing 1-2 times a day and flossing rarely. But then I got to thinking about the brush and my dental history (I also used to have bad teeth) and other various things. So I think it just eventually exploded in the form of deranged, tooth-related nightmares. Yep, nightmares. They were terrifying, also. They involved my teeth rotting and falling out or just rotting or just falling out... or some combination of bad things happening as an implicit result of poor dental care. So in an effort to curb the nightmares, I started brushing and flossing religiously. And they stopped... but honestly, whenever I slack off for a while, I have relapses. And I think about my teeth a lot. Like, way more than normal people should. It's no good. I've lost my mind. I guess there are worse addictions, though... like heroine (haha, I stole this joke from Leslie).
Speaking of addictions, this site is hilarious... and worth a visit from anyone who has ever grappled with a chapstick dependency.
I have a weird relationship with my teeth. I've become sort of obsessive-compulsive about them. I think it all started with my mom. She was trying to get me to use an electric toothbrush, but I was really opposed (I'm a minimalist, what can I say). But I agreed on the condition that my dentist told me it was proven to be better (I mean, I figured he wouldn't lie to me, but who really knows with dentists...). So I asked him, and he went off on a whole sermon about how there were all sorts of different tests done and many even by independent researchers, and they were definitely better. He even explained why they were better--not only than my manual toothbrush, but any possible manual toothbrush operated by any possible person.
So that was that. But it was just the beginning. You have to understand, my mom has very bad teeth because she used to take very poor care of them (they were like living in poverty when she was a kid and stuff), so now it has caught up with her. Ever since I can remember, she has taken crazy good care of her teeth. She even bought one of those horrifying little scrapers and a mirror-on-a-stick to go with it. Eee, those things give me the heebie-jeebies. At any rate, because of her, I think this dental care consciousness has been latent in me for some time now. But when I got the electric toothbrush, my life didn't change dramatically. I mean, I brushed, and it was fine. At this point, I was brushing 1-2 times a day and flossing rarely. But then I got to thinking about the brush and my dental history (I also used to have bad teeth) and other various things. So I think it just eventually exploded in the form of deranged, tooth-related nightmares. Yep, nightmares. They were terrifying, also. They involved my teeth rotting and falling out or just rotting or just falling out... or some combination of bad things happening as an implicit result of poor dental care. So in an effort to curb the nightmares, I started brushing and flossing religiously. And they stopped... but honestly, whenever I slack off for a while, I have relapses. And I think about my teeth a lot. Like, way more than normal people should. It's no good. I've lost my mind. I guess there are worse addictions, though... like heroine (haha, I stole this joke from Leslie).
Speaking of addictions, this site is hilarious... and worth a visit from anyone who has ever grappled with a chapstick dependency.