Close Call

I returned to the dentist this week so that my teeth could be drilled and filled.  Remember how my three cavities weren't very deep?  Well, for some reason, the x-ray didn't show the severity of the decay in my teeth.  It turns out that my cavities run deep, with one going so deep that I narrowly missed having to have a root canal.  I may still get my chance in the future, but for now it seems to be taken care of.  Even so, the doctor mentioned more than once that he was having to drill deeper than expected on all three teeth.

The take away from this experience?  Don't skip dental visits for seven years or your teeth will fall apart.

Better Than Expected

I went to the dentist today.  That wouldn't be noteworthy except for the fact that this is the first time I've been examined or had a cleaning since late summer, 2009.

I don't get nervous about going to the dentist (it's a common source of anxiety for people), there have just been other factor preventing me from going.  First, I was uninsured for years, so dentistry was a financial burden that simply didn't seem worth it.  Once I finally had insurance, I was either trying to figure out what was causing such bad allergic reactions or I was dealing with my newly diagnosed epilepsy.  Then I was uninsured again.  Once I was finally insured, I was busy working at the most stressful job I've ever had, so a healthy mouth was the least of my concerns.  Finally, I got my job at Danfoss and things settled down... until I needed to start work on getting divorced.  After that, I simply didn't think about it for a while.

So, how does a mouth look after nearly seven years of not being professionally cleaned?  According to the dental assistant who cleaned my teeth: "not as bad as [she] thought."  Don't get me wrong, she had to spend a lot of time scraping away plaque, to the point that my mouth got tired from having to hold it open for so long, but apparently she expected it to be much worse.  My secret?  I brush too hard.  I go through a toothbrush in about a month and they're pretty much destroyed by the time I replace them.  However, brushing so hard has made my gums excessively recede.  The doctor recommended that I invest in an electric toothbrush with a pressure sensor that shuts off if I press too hard.  I may have to do that because the only way to get my gums back is with painful surgery, so keeping what I have is really important.  What I currently have is livable, just less than ideal.

But I know the real question on your mind; how many cavities do I have?  Again, fewer than expected based on how long it's been since my last visit: I have three cavities, but none of them are very deep.  I have another appointment scheduled for drilling and filling, though not until August; my doctor is the highest customer-rated dentist in the area, so he's pretty popular.

I was expecting a root canal after so much time, so a few minor cavities sounds like a good deal to me.

Winning the War

Soon after I moved into my current apartment, I discovered that my kitchen had become a breeding ground for fruit flies.  While I certainly prefer to deal with an infestation of fruit flies than houseflies, my ultimate goal is to not deal with any arthropodic invaders at all.  I keep my kitchen very clean and any fruit I have is either stored in the fridge or in a closed bag, so I was quite surprised to be dealing with any flies let alone so many.

I talked to my sister, Margot, about my frustrations with having to hang fly ribbons and she suggested putting out an open jar of apple cider vinegar as a trap.  The vinegar attracts the flies and, thanks to a drop of dish soap, the surface tension is broken so that when the flies try to feed, they fall in and drown.  I put out a trap the next day, but only a few flies took the bait.  I was still catching plenty of flies on the ribbons, but there were still even more inside my kitchen trash can.

I did some research online and decided that the vinegar trap was only half of a solution: I needed to take away their other food source.  I emptied the trash and replaced the liner so I could start with a blank slate and I reset the vinegar trap.  Additionally, anytime I threw away any fruit or vegetable matter, I wrapped it in a grocery bag to add a layer between the garbage and the flies.

The next day, the vinegar trap was a very popular place.  It had captured a few dozen flies, but there were several dozen more hanging out nearby (maybe waiting for the line shorten).  There were no flies in the trash can and the fly ribbons were disgustingly crowded.  Within a week, the trap had captured about fifty flies and there were only one or two flies buzzing around.

We're now about a month removed from when I first put my plan into action and there's still about one or two fruit flies hanging around.  I don't know if I can completely get rid of them, but with my current plan in place, they will at least be very well controlled.

Mouth Ulcer Attack

I am prone to developing mouth ulcers, known colloquially in the US as canker sores.  Unlike cold sores or fever blisters, which are caused by a virus, we don't really know what causes canker sores.  Some are caused by trauma (like accidentally jabbing the side of your mouth with your toothbrush), but others just seem to show up without cause.  Luckily, canker sores pose no harm beyond discomfort and are easy to treat.

The two most common ways to treat canker sores are the potato method and the salt method.  For the potato method, simply cut out a piece of a raw potato and place it next to the sore.  This works because there are some enzymes in the potato that kill the infection and promote healing.  If I use this method, I'll usually do it while I sleep.  This usually only takes one treatment to see a significant difference.  For the salt method, you rub common table salt into your sores.  This works because the salt dries out the sore and the infused iodine helps to kill the infection.  This is usually my preferred method only because I don't usually keep potatoes in my kitchen.  If you rub salt in your sores, be prepared for it to hurt -- after all, you're literally rubbing salt in a wound.  If you rub the canker sore long enough, one treatment will be enough.  Since "long enough" varies from sore to sore, it can sometimes take several treatments before true healing begins.

There's also a third treatment: hydrogen peroxide rinse.  I'm not suggesting that you actually gargle with straight hydrogen peroxide, but using a rinse with hydrogen peroxide as the active ingredient can work well.  I discovered this third method while shopping this last week.  After unsuccessfully treating three canker sores multiple times, I was getting rather frustrated.  I happened to walk down the oral hygiene aisle for something else, when I saw a bottle of Peroxyl, which boasted that it "promotes [the] healing of minor oral wounds," so I picked up a small bottle.  In the two days that I've used it, it's made a noticeable difference.  It stings a little while in the mouth, but it's nothing compared to using salt.

While I still don't know exactly what causes me to develop canker sores, I now have a new way to treat them.

Flossing, The power of

Oral hygiene is important to me, but let's face it: flossing sucks. I mean it's important and everything, but man is it annoying. With the other steps of cleaning my mouth, there are fewer steps. Like brushing my tongue requires only picking up the brush and applying it to my tongue. Similarly with teeth brushing, though the application of paste is required. But flossing, man, it's like its own little process. You've got to pull the floss out, you've got to wrap it around your hand, you've got to get all up in to your grill and wiggle it all about. (Show of hands: who's tired just reading that?)

Here's the thing, though. If I actually floss, I work harder on brushing. My mouth feels cleaner if I floss, but only indirectly so. Maybe it's all the effort of getting all up in there for one step that pushes me to just continue to be all up in there (last time I'll use the phrase "all up in there" this post, promise).

In an attempt to floss more, I bought some floss picks. You know what? It really is easier to floss with picks and I've been flossing every night for over a week now, which means that the rest of my mouth is cleaner, also.

So I guess that means that Allison and I should have corn on the cob for dinner soon. You know, to put flossing to the test. Updates to follow?