Taking Care of Teeth 2

Starting a new thread as my original was approaching 1000 posts.


I find this daily check in really helpful to see how I'm doing and it lets me know when I need to get back on track.

Flossing is pretty automatic for me now unless I'm exhausted and brushing is becoming more of a regular thing too but I'm still struggling to make it a daily thing.

Flossed yesterday

flossed and brushed two nights ago, and flossed last night.

I had another root canal done. It was faster than the first one and I only need Ibuprofen now. After the last one, in December, I needed opioids and amoxicillin. It does not hurt, possibly thanks to Ibuprofen. I am happy

@Tart Cherry Jam Glad your second root canal went better and that you're not in pain.

flossed and brushed yesterday.

Flossed and brushed yesterday.

flossed yesterday.

Just flossed yesterday.

Brushed but didn't floss yesterday.

Flossed and brushed yesterday.

flossed and brushed yesterday.

Didn't manage to floss or brush yesterday.

flossed and brushed yesterday.

The dentist told me on Thursday to floss, brush, rinse and use Waterpik to my heart's content, now that I can (I could not floss in some areas for months because the temp crows did not have spaces between teeth). She told me the more I did it, the faster gum bleeding would stop. My gums were bleeding like crazy. That was on Thursday.

Two days later and.... no bleeding at all. None. Zero. Naught.

I now floss at least three times a day. I rinsed with warm salty water, used Waterpik once, brushed more than usual, and used Fluoride mouthwash a couple of times (not all of those treatments at once, obviously).

I will see her on Tuesday and I look forward to getting praised for getting from terrible gums to neat gums so fast.

I also added up the spending on dental care, between two dental offices, starting last February. I never spent that much money on dental care. But the results are worth it.

I still am not allowed to eat nuts. More work needs to happen before chewing would be OK'd. I think she wants to put fillings in lower teeth now, to balance them against the upper teeth, which are now so strong.

@Tart Cherry Jam Congratulations on all you're doing to take care of your teeth and gums. It's definitely a good feeling when we see significant progress.

Flossed and brushed yesterday.

Didn't manage to floss or brush yesterday.

Flossed and brushed yesterday.

I just signed up for this website and this is one of the first posts I've seen. I already feel less alone because brushing teeth is such a challenge for me. It's embarrassing and concerning. I'm so terrified of dentists and doctors and my teeth are pretty bad. Unfortunately this makes me not want to brush them cause I try to basically pretend they (my teeth) don't exist. But anyway I did brush this morning so if I do it tonight too that will be a good thing.

@Usernotfound404 Welcome to the site and this thread. I struggled with taking care of my teeth for years. But then I had a horrific cleaning experience that motivated me to do better about 2.5 years ago and I've been working on it ever since.

Flossed and brushed yesterday.

Didn't manage to brush or floss yesterday.

So flossing takes much longer now. The dentist told me not to go up and down with the floss anymore, but only to slide it once and pull it through without going back. She said that this is a gentler method, necessary because I have so many crowns. Now I cut little segments of floss and do one tooth at a time. It is a bother, but I am sure I will get used to it.

@Tart Cherry Jam Wow that does sound like it will take longer. Good luck with getting used to the new method.

flossed and brushed yesterday.

Flossed and brushed yesterday.

Flossed and brushed yesterday.

Didn't brush or floss yesterday.

I went to the dentist last week for a cleaning/X-rays and exam, and had a flouride treatment added in, and had ZERO cavities which is amazing for me. Anyway I’m doing a lot better with brushing and am now flossing properly since I was shown how to do it the right way, so I take my time with that now. And I leave my flouride mouthwash in while I swish it around for 1 whole minute before spitting it out and don’t eat or drink anything for 30 minutes afterwards. Anyway, it was really nice getting positive feedback at the dentist for once lol but yeah I like my new dentist and the hygienist I had. I also went to the dentist today but that was just to re-cement a crown that had popped off. It kept popping off and I had to get it redone multiple times but this time my new dentist made some adjustments to the crown so it fits a lot better now and I don’t think it’ll come off again. At least not for a long time. It never fit properly before that’s why it was always coming off and I’d keep having to go in to get it redone multiple times-cemented but none of my previous dentists addressed the actual problem of the crown not fitting properly and just kept shoving it back on without making any adjustments so it’d actually fit right over the tooth. So I like my new dentist he’s been really great.

I’m super motivated to keep doing well with my dental hygiene now.