i have not been to a dentist in probably 10 years

(kidding, gerard)

electric toothbrushes make it more FUTURISTIC.

Use listerine.

Floss whenever you can, if you start bleeding when you floss that means you should be flossing more, not less.

Soft bristled brushes help you brush the gumline better, so buy those.

Don't skip a day. You can get by only brushing once a day if you have to, and even just brushing without toothpaste if there's none around once in a while, but don't ever skip. That 48 hours vs. 24 or 12 is what kills your teeth, think about mitosis and the whole bacteria population doubling every 20 minutes and you get the picture.

If all else fails don't blame yourself too much, research with twins and families has shown tooth decay is highly influenced by your genetic makeup to the point that twins will sometimes end up getting all their cavities in EXACTLY THE SAME TEETH as one another.

So so so so true. "Bleeding when you floss means you need to floss more" is the "if the topical cream burns, it's doing its job" of dental hygeine.

i find painful teeth and gums sort of fascinating, so long as they're not *too* painful. i also find it kind of cool when one of my teeth is sort of loose. but i also go to the dentist regularly and i've never had any serious dental problems.

i find going to the dentist perfectly pleasant and occasionally sort of fascinating. i don't quite understand the "fear dentists" meme. (well, maybe if you've seen von stroheim's "greed"--that's fucked up.)

amateurist, yes the dentist is expensive. esp. since i can't even pay rent tomorrow, much less a dentist.

But man, gimme that laughing gas.

that said, i'm gonna bookmark this thread and look at it whenever i'm tempted to skip a day. brrrr.

[xpost] my husband had his wisdom tooth pulled out in pieces (it was broken)...and he kept it. on the nightstand. still has it. it's gross.
I'm making him a gift of a matchbox & some cottonwool. I just want it to go away.

Hence I'm really paranoid about people looking at my teeth. Especially with my having three canines and all.

my dentist story is on the "scary things yr hairdresser sed" thread: i haven't been since then

Rather shamefully, I haven't been back since. I have rediscovered the joys of flossing though.

(I also get a weird, uncomfortable, maddening sensation if I touch papers napkins (or other similar kinds of paper) when my fingers are too dry. And not dry to the point of cracking or flaking or anything, just the kind of dryness that comes from wind or air. If this happens I have to put the napkin down and get some kind of wetness or even like pizza grease before I can touch it again. Does this happen to anyone else?)

But the thought of me not going to the dentist for ten years is horrifying. I've gone to the dentist pretty much every 6 months for as long as I can remember, but I've always been lucky to have good dental insurance. I basically never floss (I flossed like 3 times last year), but I've never had a cavity. I do usually brush twice a day, and it usually brush for a couple minutes. And then a lot of times I start reading something while I'm brushing my teeth, and I end up sitting there with a mouthful of toothpaste for like 5 minutes, so maybe that somewhat makes up for not flossing?

Also, the last time I went to the dentist, they gave me a walkman to listen to, which is like the greatest idea ever. It totally helped distract me. The next time you go to the dentist, I highly recommend bringing some kind of portable music player. You also get to avoid awkward dentist conversation. It still baffles me when they ask me questions while they're doing something in my mouth. How do they expect me to answer with more than a wordless noise?

I found a very local NHS dentist who fixed a broken filling for me for very little cash, but I left his surgery actually feeling he hadn't done enough work in there (I can feel, clearly, the fissure between the patched-up filling and the body of the tooth, and if that isn't a bacterial pleasure palace I don't know what is), which is entirely unlike my reaction to my previous, private dentists, who fucked my mouth about at enormous expense and caused problems for years where there had been none before.

but i wonder how much of this is yet to come.

In my case it's all because I clench and grind my teeth when I sleep or when I'm tense, so I've been slowly splitting my teeth since they appeared. And now my forty-year-old fillings are no longer up to the task of holding the old fortresses together. Root canal number three happened because I dozed off in front of the telly a couple of Christmases ago for half an hour and woke up with a splinter of tooth in my mouth.

To be honest, the occasions I have had to have fillings (eg last week) I'm so whatever about the needle. It's a drag, and afterwards I have to remember not to eat owt in case I chew my mouth interior.

I did have a root canal job about five years ago. Led to believe it was the worst pain ever, it was the least painful filling job I ever had. Times have changed I guess.

Having said all that, my molar with the gold filling was giving me major ag, which was why I was at the dentist in the first place. If that needs more work, that will get complicated. Might have to all get gone for a replacement. Thankfully, I dabbed it with clove oil and it's calmed down for now.

Of course, that's me and YMMV.

God, you're so lucky. MM definitely does V compared to that. On Thursday I went in to have an old filling removed and a new one put in. Six giant anaesthetic needles later and I could still feel the drill, so we had to call a halt (and that's how we decided I'd need another root canal). And now I still have a dodgy tooth and my face is all swollen and sore from the giant needles. Anyway, never mind. I just wanted to have a whinge about it. I don't have a lot of other options if I want to keep my teeth, which I do.

Still bewildering to me how the teeth have been separated from the rest of the body in the realm of medicine, at least in the U.S. Dental pain & problems is still probably the #1 ailment for a lot of folks, especially in the younger years, and can have all kinds of social effects including employment options

I like my dentist.. she's pretty no-bullshit and never tries to upsell me on anything. But she did point out that some of my fillings are fucking ancient and I should think about replacing a couple with crowns while I still have insurance, so we're figuring out a plan for that, that won't be too expensive... like one a year

I've gotten much better about flossing the last few years, and (knock on wood) still have all my teeth, or at least the roots! They're not pretty but they still work

everything but the most routine work is not paid for by the NHS in the UK so the US is not alone there

Dentistry was one of the last, if not the last, of the practical health fields to be absorbed into the general medical field, a few decades after bonesetting, surgery, and obstetrics were allowed in.

Also, I stopped rinsing my teeth after brushing, and it made a world of difference--my teeth have mostly stopped splitting apart, and I'm not getting blood on my toothbrush any more. I still don't expect to be able to see a dentist until I'm old enough for Medicare, though, if it still exists by then.

I stopped rinsing my teeth after brushing

A long time ago i read a document written by a dentist called "the perfect dental routine" or something like that -- i think it got mentioned here on ilx -- and this was one of his key pieces of advice. Brush with fluoride toothpaste and leave it to sink in so to speak.

(Ah, this was the post about it, though the link seems to be broken.)

Medicare doesn’t have dental coverage atm. Maybe someday (there is plenty of lobbying for it), but definitely so not gonna happen with the current political situation.

I am still into hardcore dental routines! Which does not mean I actually adhere to them all the time. . . latest thing I need to try is interdental in lieu of/in addition to flossing.

(apologies for womansplaining Medicare stuff; my day job is to help people navigate the Medicare labyrinth and ppl are stunned about traditional Medicare not covering even routine cleanings. Medicare Advantage plans may do that, but there are significant tradeoffs with that route)

*interdental BRUSHES. I swear I haven’t been drinking

Dentistry in Australia is also not part of our Medicare system except for children between 2 and 17, unless possibly your teeth get so bad you get hospitalized.

I do really like my dentist though, Dr Tina who came from Korea to study dentistry and never left. Not that I’ve had to have anything particular major done apart from replacing a crown. That was pretty amazing, after she did the cleanup and prep work I asked when I should come back thinking it would be a week and she said come back in 20 minutes and don’t drink any coffee in the meantime time.

They have a little milling machine that mills crowns out of blocks of ceramic material. It’s almost magical, if very expensive and only partially covered by insurance.

I don't know anyone with traditional pay-per-service Medicare. Is it even possible now? I once had a client who was grandparented into it until their family neglected to respond to the notices one year, so they were put on a default plan.

Original Medicare is still available. It's about $185/month currently, then you generally add a prescription plan (Part D, around $35/month) and a Medigap plan (varies widely). I'm looking at going that route due to planning a move to a rural area. If I stayed in Seattle, I could do a Kaiser Medicare Advantage plan for around $325/month.

latest thing I need to try is interdental in lieu of/in addition to flossing.

I have three different sizes of interdental brushes, and a special long-handled one for doing the front and back of my molars. I also have a special kind of small-headed toothbrush for doing the outer edges of my very back teeth. My gum health is, according to my dentist, exceptional. It is not bloody well helping.

Our medical insurance does cover dental work, but instead of just taking a photo of your receipt and sending it to an email address, you have to fill in detailed three-page forms for every procedure and send them in the post. Obviously they are hoping you won't bother.

The small-headed one is called a "single tufted" toothbrush. I have one and I use it for the same thing. My gum health is apparently also exceptional after years of neglect and being probably weeks away from needing my two front lower teeth extracted. Unfortunately my wisdom teeth, which remain submarined beneath the gumline in my lower jaw, are pushing against my back lower molars and creating gigantic "pockets" - which is why I need the single tufted brush, to try and clean those pockets. Ideally I'd fix that problem by getting the wisdom teeth removed but they're both apparently so close to a crucial nerve that nobody will touch it so I'm stuck with my good ol' single tufted brush to the end of my days 😭

I have an ongoing argument with a buddy... he says that you can reverse receding gums. I say there's surgical interventions (grafting) but there's no daily process that will cause your gums to return to their old coverage

You are correct

Yep, you can only prevent further recession aiui.

everything but the most routine work is not paid for by the NHS in the UK so the US is not alone there

― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 10 August 2025 bookmarkflaglink

Today dentistry. Tomorrow the rest of the public sector.

(I actually have never read a deep dive on dentistry and why its so fucked here, like even check ups are going up in price every year)

interesting recent radio program on the current miserable state of American dental health

https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101910811/why-americans-flock-to-mexicos-molar-city-for-dental-care

Oooooh I'll listen to that in horror because I probably need so much work.

There's a podcast from the New Republic a few years ago that had good history re American dentistry/medical history:
https://newrepublic.com/article/163012/reasons-hate-dentist-malpractice

The article referenced in that radio program:

Mexico’s Molar City Could Transform My Smile. Did I Want It To?

More than a thousand dentists have set up shop in Los Algodones. Their patients are mostly Americans who can’t afford the U.S.’s dental care.

I spoke to my dentist earlier. She conferred with my endontist and they think my nervy tooth last week might be a hangover from the shingles I had earlier this summer. So we're just going to do nothing for a few weeks and have another go. It's not exactly heartening, but at least I don't have to think about it for another couple of weeks.

i got over a general mental block about going to the dentist in the last year or two, after a huge gap of many years. even tho i don't necessarily fear it, it had become some troubling procrastination that sort of went back to a time in my life when i had a lot more of that behaviour, almost the last thing left from that time.

it took a fair bit of mental effort and exploring of why it was such a black hole where i just couldn't bring myself to go. when i did, they said i needed to get a broken tooth removed, like one that isn't visible at the back of my mouth. again, didn't love the idea of this but forced myself to go and do it.

when i went to the dentist who was to remove the tooth, he said it was fine and should just get a filling in it, why lose a tooth forever etc. seemed logical and he prodded it to show me it hurt and therefore was still alive, then did an x-ray to show me it had good roots etc.

xpost

great, i thought, a lucky escape and now i can go to the dentist once a year like a normal person.

but now the dentist who sent me to get the tooth removed has said he disagrees with the other dentist. i have no idea what to do and it throws me back into procrastination.

*curb your enthusiasm music plays*

I had a bunch of dental work done in Mexico, and I absolutely plan to do it there again the next time I have something major going on.

they said i needed to get a broken tooth removed

And replace it with what? Or is it a wisdom tooth?

it's at the back so the options were replace it with a really expensive artificial tooth, or they said just take it out and don't replace it, which given it's at the back wouldn't really matter.

but the remover dentist seems to think just put a filling in it to stop food getting into it and irritating it and leave it as is.

ange postecoglou ass dental tactic

i have no idea what to do and it throws me back into procrastination.

How annoying. I at least have a good enough relationship with my dentist that in a situation like that I could say "well, you two need to work this out and come back and tell me the plan."

None of this would really be a problem if we didn't live so long. My mam (80) is starting to have trouble now with the back of her jaw where she had teeth removed when she was young. The gum has died and the area is prone to little infections. It's very annoying, because she goes to the dentist every six months for a cleaning and has to have numbing in the back of her mouth in order to clean back there because of her missing teeth.

that is very annoying. i didn't go to the dentist for twenty years (just over in fact I think) and developed a similar... mental block? same as you LG it didn't worry me it was just my brain did that swerving thing every time i thought about addressing it. all was fine - apart from the fact that I've still got a milk tooth which is 'huh that's weird, no i don't think you need to anything *incredibly expensive* about it unless it starts giving you gyp' etc.

more recently had a fine crack in one of my back teeth (technical term), and dentist said you should get a crown. when i told people this they said 'no it will destroy the tooth and they have to put a peg in' which i found a bit disconcerting, so went back and asked a bit more and it turns out these days they do an 3D SCAN (which was quite exciting to see) and then do 3D milling on site while you are there (also fascinating to watch), and then it just fits perfectly with a bit of cement. It was great.

I genuinely haven't got a clue what to do in this situation. Might go to the local dentist and ask if the guy who insists it should come out will explain to me why, since I got a hearing from the bloke who denied that, in person. Or also I've wondered if I can make them decide between them and tell me their decision, but that seems less likely.

it's at the back so the options were replace it with a really expensive artificial tooth,

Maybe your roots are particularly shallow, so root-canal-and-crown isn't an option? With any medical intervention nowadays I usually ask the practitioner: "What's the worst possible end result of this treatment, and what are the odds of that happening assuming I never change my current behaviour?" One of the reasons I stay with my current dentist is that she gives me straight answers to those questions, so at least I can understand what's going on.

i think i just basically decided like just yank it cos don't care to pay for root canal, or do it, or get a crown. like it has p much no function and no vanity value.

but when the other dentist said well no need to pull it, it's fine just get a filling, i thought great, bonus.

i know there are a fair few other pricier solutions but i sort of ruled them out already as i was getting quoted insane figures, like 2k and stuff for a tooth nobody can see.

Yeah, it's not about the visibility, though. It's like knocking down the end house in a terrace. But you know all that. I guess if it was me I'd get it filled and see how you go. You can always get it taken out later on. And who knows, the filling might last forever. I once got three years out of a temporary filling that was supposed to last two months.

i did wonder that but they didn't seem to have any concerns about it not being there as regards effect on other teeth. or if they did they kept them to themselves.

filling prob makes sense really, like there's no pain at all, i think basically whatever way it's broken it's solid and stable as it's been broken for like five years or more.

strong and stable, sorry

build back biter

I've had serious dental problems over the last few months. A tooth that had previously given little trouble developed huge cracks and became sensitive to hot and cold. I went to my regular dentist to get it re-filled. She gave me so much blocker that she wasn't legally able to give me any more, and I could still feel the nerve when she drilled the tooth. So, after several goes at it across an hour, and six or eight huge injections, she gave up and made me an appointment with the endodontist. She got her colleague, who apparently is the best injector in the business. Still extremely painful. However, she worked around the pain and re-filled the tooth. Today we started the root treatment, but first they took a scan of my whole head to see why the blockers haven't been working. Turns out some of my nerves run into my face at a funny angle, so they were injecting in the wrong place. The Injector dude was able to see where he should be aiming for, and in one long, slow, almost-pain-free injection (no topical numbing or anything), he was able to numb me perfectly for two solid hours. Science!

Anyway, looks like I'm not going to get five more years out of this tooth, so there's no point in spending a load of money on a proper crown. Endodontist is just going to finish the root treatment (which takes about two hours each time because the roots have little flippers at the bottom of them) and give me a temporary crown and we'll see how long I get out of it before it breaks and I have to have it taken out. The good thing about getting the root treatment is that if and when the tooth breaks, it won't be painful and there'll be nothing to really infect - it'll just chip or split and I can go and get rid of it at my own pace.

I've been trying that thing mentioned upthread ^^^^^ where you don't spit all the toothpaste out and rinse after brushing. The trick is to floss before brushing

I don't really like it but hoping it helps the enamel

(trishyb that sounds like an ordeal! I hope you're not still in pain)

wait you were flossing after brushing?? andy i look to you in these things and this is confusing me

yes! I've been flossing after brushing my entire life

we might need to do a poll on this one

i just brushed my teeth so my mouth is nice and clean, now it's the perfect time to dislodge a rotten piece of chicken that's been stuck between two molars for the last 36 hours

at least I floss!

A buddy hadn't flossed in years and he went to some charlatan dentist who told him he required some laser gum therapy and btw it costs six grand out of pocket. He paid up and it was done in a single session

I told my dentist and she just chuckled, she thinks he got ripped off

i paid like £400 out of pocket for laser gum treatment (later reimbursed by insurance) at literally one of the fanciest periodontists on harley st in london. it was annoying and didn’t work

my teeth are poor but they're all still there (minus the wisdoms)... my dentist is gently pushing me to get rid of some of my massive 1980's fillings, to replace with crowns. I want to do it but it's hard to cough up hundreds of dollars (co-pay) to go have a miserable few hours in the chair

Thank you Doctor Niazi!! I've been saying the same thing for thirty years

Patients who were successfully treated for root canal infections saw their blood sugar levels fall significantly over two years, suggesting that ridding the body of the problematic bacteria could help protect against type 2 diabetes.

Dentists also saw improvements in patients’ blood cholesterol and fatty acid levels, both of which are associated with heart health. Yet more benefits were seen around inflammation, a driver for cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions.

“Our oral health is connected to our general health,” said Dr Sadia Niazi, a senior clinical lecturer in endodontology at King’s College London. “We should never look at our teeth or dental disease as a separate entity.”