It was only after I lost one-seventh of my teeth that I thought about taking care of them. I didn’t have the habit of taking care of my teeth since I was a kid, so I was fine when I was young, but when I started to have toothaches in high school and undergraduate school, it was just because of my wisdom teeth. After three wisdom teeth were extracted, I had a peaceful time, but the remaining one was not extracted, which eventually planted the root of the problem. It’s hard to talk about it, but it was my mother’s frugal habits, the normal growth of the last wisdom tooth, and the sudden epidemic that made me regret not having it extracted as I had planned.
Too much indulgence in eating habits after work (too many late night snacks without proper cleaning of teeth), andIt finally cost me my first tooth.. When I was in the hospital for a root canal, the doctor gave me an extra filling and said my wisdom tooth was a bit decayed. She didn’t even suggest that I have it extracted and I didn’t ask, missing another opportunity to survive.
Root canals were done, teeth were filled, and I thought all was well, but when I went back for a dental checkup after a year and a half or so, the doctor told me that I had broken three more, sandwiched right between the previous bad teeth and my wisdom teeth. If I had been examined earlier, there might have been a chance to remedy the situation, and if I had had my wisdom teeth removed earlier, it might not have been so easy for food debris to accumulate in the spaces between my teeth; the former is what the doctor said, and the latter is what I reflected on myself.
At that time, there was a Mirai in the back of the neighborhood where I was renting a room, and the checkup was done there, but it was a medical institution, and the treatment was too expensive, and I couldn’t go through the health insurance, so I went to the hospital anyway. I didn’t meet the doctor who did the root canal for me last time, and the new doctor’s conclusion of the examination was also that three teeth were broken, and the first treatment was performed on the spot to remove the decayed part, after which the next step had to be a root canal.
The cost of hospital treatment is not expensive, recommended by a colleague, went to the third, a personal clinic, you can go to the health insurance reimbursement, so the root canal and extraction of the tooth was done together. My teeth are prone to clogging, and the doctor suggested using a dental floss rinse. I bought a Panasonic tooth rinser, and I can’t comment on its effectiveness, but the portability and value are really good. Also, I decided to check my teeth every six months and wait until it’s too late for a toothache.
This treatment also made me take off the filter of the big hospitals. The female doctor who did my root canal in the first place may not be as skilled as the doctor in this small clinic.
When I went for a recheck after 6 months, the doctor said that the tooth was a bit decayed again, and it was cleaned and then filled. In fact, since the first root canal, I have been brushing my teeth after lunch, and now I have a dental flosser (which I probably don’t use very often), so can’t I save my teeth? The doctor said you can also floss if the rusher doesn’t get rid of the food debris. Flossing is such a good thing, maybe if I had flossed earlier, I wouldn’t have had to suffer this much.
After this review, I’m not afraid to slack off. My current dental care regimen is as follows:
- Brush your teeth twice in the morning and twice in the evening
- Floss after meals to clean your teeth and use the rinse more often after lunch
- Six-monthly checkups, with or without scaling as directed by your doctor
The reason why I only use the flosser after lunch is because I only have one flosser and leave it at work, but of course you can keep one at home.
I’ve been putting off going to the clinic for the second time this year, mainly because the clinic is too far away from where I live, and it’s close to a two-hour round trip by subway. I’ve thought about going to a nearby clinic, but once I’ve built up trust in a doctor, it’s hard to find the motivation and courage to go to someone else. I had to make the trip while I was on annual leave, and the long hours on the subway were perfect for reading, which is highly unlikely at home anyway.
I hadn’t seen him for another six months, and it felt like the doctor had aged a bit, and his gray hair had grown quite a bit. It’s been more than two years since I started treatment, during which time the doctor’s clinic has been redecorated, and this time I went with an extra assistant. The initial checkup was fine, but I was shocked when I had to take a picture again, but I was fine in the end. It had been a year since my last cleaning, so I had it done this time, and the assistant said my teeth were still relatively clean afterward.
To me, teeth are precious, fragile and expensive instruments that must be used with care in order to extend their life cycle a little. Without teeth, how can I face the food of the world.