I've always brushed every morning and night, knowing that it will keep cavities at bay. Of course, I taught my children to do the same; dental care is critical because your teeth need to last your entire life. Chewing is important! As a nurse, I also know that gingivitis can bring about poor health systemically. Should you get bacteria in your blood stream, it can affect your heart.
What I didn't plan on contending with was the moment the California dentist told me that my son had eight cavities. Eight. Oh my God! How did this happen to a sweet fourteen year old boy who only drank soda pop weekly, but brushed regularly? Well, it had everything to do with the month of camping we undertook this past summer. He skipped a few nights of brushing here and there, and the result was rapid decay of his teeth.
If that wasn't bad enough, we were actually at the dentist to have his upper gum area assessed due to a bad injury. He had been trying to lift a heavy construction dolly out of the way for me. The handle slipped out when he yanked it up and it slammed into his upper mouth. When I looked at him, he his lip was at least two inches thick with swelling and blood was pouring from the sides of his mouth, pooling at his feet. I looked for teeth in the pool of blood as I registered just how serious this injury could be.
In the end, he missed his teeth by a quarter of an inch and his nose by the same distance. The handle had neatly missed both his teeth and his nose by a sliver.
The Carlsbad, California dentist was wonderful! He recommended nitrous oxide for my son. Getting eight fillings done at one time while nursing a severely injured upper mouth area was no walk in the park.
Two hours later, and over a thousand dollars in cost, we left the dentist office, grateful to exit semi-unscathed by fate and a slap on the hand by the tooth fairy. I will be insisting on perfect oral care from now on for my children. No matter where we are or what we're doing: camping, staying at a friend's house, visiting grandma, or even Halloween night, there will be a toothbrush coming out of its drawer and toothpaste applied generously to it. There will be dental floss extracted from its place and a long piece torn off for optimum reaching into the depths of the orifice. I will never think for a moment that just one or two nights off of dental care will not matter. It does.
My son inherited "weak teeth" from his father. I, on the other hand, have skipped a few nights occasionally in my life. Okay, quite a few. I don't know if genetics plays a bigger role in dental health than diet. I do know that my son will have to be careful during his entire life to care for his teeth if he wants them to last. My mother had dentures at thirty four. She was not my biological mother, but she had poor teeth. Poor enough to have them all removed and false teeth installed. I remember how she looked with her false teeth out. It was actually scarey to see. She looked like a geezer! To my youthful horror, I saw her sunken in lips and cheeks and knew that I did not want to ever have false teeth.
I haven't told my son this story. I will wait until he possibly slacks off and needs another reinforcement beyond his own memory of his injury and subsequent two hour visit to the dentist. Right now, he has fond memories of the nitrous oxide, but I hope this memory is not the one that prevails. Extreme dental care can be handled well by a professional dentist with gentle hands. The great dentist in Carlsbad helped us enormously. My son has a permanent injury to the small piece of skin that attaches to the upper lip. It's mangled and gone now, but in it's place is a lesson in care. No need for extreme care, take good care of your teeth and they will last a lifetime!