# Friendly advice to younger Dopers **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 25, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friendly-advice-to-younger-dopers/305433 "2005-05-25T14:15:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![stretch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@stretch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stretch)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friendly-advice-to-younger-dopers/305433/21 "2005-05-25T23:02:16Z")
Oh, yes, brush and floss. Don’t grind your teeth or if you do get a nightguard and wear it. Wear it during the day if you have to. And try to find a good dentist that isn’t too much older than you so s/he doesn’t retire on you and leave you with a crappy dentist who just wants to talk you into expensive procedures that will cost you money and teeth. Don’t like going to a dentist? Well, that won’t be a problem after they have to pull all of your teeth because of your neglect. Or be like me–take good care of your teeth and visit your dentist regularly, but lose them anyway because you inherited a tendency toward periodontal disease and put off getting a nightguard until it was too late to save them. I’m 38 and I had to have 5 upper teeth pulled last year, and am desperately trying to hold on to the rest (I anticipate losing at least 2 more upper teeth despite my efforts). I go for cleanings and root planings every three months (I’m going tomorrow). Fortunately, they don’t need to give me anything prior to the cleanings–instead she uses a topical gel to numb me up. I understand that some people need drugs or gas to be able to have their teeth cleaned–I hope it doesn’t get that painful for me. They do perio charting every year–that’s when they measure how many millimeters deep the “pocket” around your tooth is until they hit bone. If you have good teeth and no perio problems, your charting would have lots of 1s and 2s. When they measured mine before yanking the 5 teeth, there was a lot of this: 9, 8, 9, 7, 6, 7, on my uppers. My lower teeth are in better shape–I only have a couple of 9s and the rest are 5 or less. Today I went and did the final fitting on my permanent plate before they affix the acrylic teeth. They look…fake. And due to the fact that two of them are front teeth, I will have metal clamps that everyone can see when I smile. The lab did a good job of making them unobtrusive, but you can still see them. Next Wednesday, I get to pick up the finished plate. I can’t wait, since I’ve broken one of the teeth off of my partial an average of once a week for the last 4 months and I’m tired of having to fix it. Again, brush, floss, visit your dentist. Especially FLOSS. Did anyone ever explain the purpose of flossing to you? You think it’s only to get popcorn hulls out of your teeth? You must floss to remove the plaque that builds up below the gumline and prevents the ligaments between your gum and tooth from staying attached/reattaching. Once they explained that to me, flossing became a much more important activity. Of course, seeing the x-rays showing all the bone loss may have had an impact as well. I feel better now. Thanks, **tdn** , for loaning me your soapbox. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friendly-advice-to-younger-dopers/305433/22 "2005-05-25T23:13:28Z")
I paid less than $100, for a government linked clinic, for my wisdom teeth. 'course, I ain’t in 'merika. 😉 Seem to be born with good teeth, though, 23, and not a single filling. I never floss or use mouthwash, and I used to hate brushing my teeth when I was younger… at least I try to take better care of them now, but I never did get the hang of flossing. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![stretch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@stretch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stretch)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friendly-advice-to-younger-dopers/305433/23 "2005-05-25T23:25:41Z")
> [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > Seem to be born with good teeth, though, 23, and not a single filling. I never floss or use mouthwash, and I used to hate brushing my teeth when I was younger… at least I try to take better care of them now, but I never did get the hang of flossing. 😃 Oh, I have good teeth. The teeth are sound, with only a few fillings. I just have bad everything else. Flossing isn’t just for your teeth, it’s for your gums and jawbone. That’s where my problems lie–my bones and a bad bite. The teeth themselves are the least of my problems. I’ll stop lecturing now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mint\_Julep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc79bd/32.png) [@Mint\_Julep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mint_Julep)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friendly-advice-to-younger-dopers/305433/24 "2005-05-26T00:07:14Z")
At 27 I have never had a cavity 😃 And I date my dentist. “He says I have the whitest teeth he has ever **come** across”. lol (Literally he tells me this-LOL) ---
**Author:** ![dare\_devil007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@dare\_devil007](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dare_devil007)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friendly-advice-to-younger-dopers/305433/25 "2005-05-26T00:10:38Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Kiddos, let an older Doper give you some friendly advice on a few matters: > > Always look both ways before you cross the street. > > Eat your vegetables. > > Don’t talk to strangers. > > Make friends with Mr. Toothbrush. Brush every day, after every meal. Floss. See your dentist twice a year. Avoid sweets. > > That way, you just might dodge the bullet of a dentist one day telling you that no, the $1800 you owe by next tomorrow is not the price of the entire implant procedure, just the price of the implant itself, i.e. a screw that you could pick up at a hardware store for 3 cents, but the extraction was an additional $500, and this doesn’t include the cost of the crown for Og knows how much but probably another $800, and oh, by the way, that massive pain you have on the other side of your mouth is not a mere sensitive tooth, but total decay which needs a root canal like today, and that’s another grand, and so sorry you can’t chew at all, but we neglected to tell you about the other 7 cavities that need to be filled at $150-200 apiece, and your insurance only covers .000001% of all this work so you might have to sell a kidney to pay for all of this but we’d like the money now so how would you like to take care of it, and all the while you’re having a hard time absorbing this avalanche of bad news all the while you’re in MASSIVE FUCKING THROBBING PAIN. > > Take this advice, and maybe your life will never have to suck the way mine does right now. Ouch! Thanks for the advice. I look forward to my life not sucking so much and I hope you feel better soon. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friendly-advice-to-younger-dopers/305433/26 "2005-05-26T01:34:15Z")
> [@ShadiRoxan](#): > > . . . I’d like my insurance to point me to a dentist that just charges what they cover. Believe me, you really don’t want this. I was once so desperate that I went to a clinic that would do the work for the insurance payment. The place was filthy, the staff was extremely rude, and the dentist was incompetent and abusive. Either I didn’t get enough novacaine or it was improperly administered, but at one point tears started streaming down my face from the pain, and the dentist threw a nasty little fit and left the room, saying he’d come back when I decided to cooperate. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friendly-advice-to-younger-dopers/305433/27 "2005-05-26T02:36:52Z")
Don’t have to tell me twice! I’m 22 (well…almost 22). I’ve been going to the dentist regularly (twice a year) since I can remember. I had braces for two years. I do grind my teeth when I sleep…which is why I wear my nightguard every night. Fortunately, the night guard holds my teeth in place as well or better than my retainer, which I wore religiously for 8 and a half years, only stopping when I had my night guard. I very nearly am physically unable to not brush my teeth at the appropriate times. No cavities. Perfectly straight teeth. My smile is awesome. It’s SO worth it. I don’t get people who don’t take care of their teeth to the extent that I do (I’m kind-of anal). This includes many close family members, including my husband. It’s just completely alien to me. Is it, like, an inhereted or cultural thing? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friendly-advice-to-younger-dopers/305433/28 "2005-05-26T08:59:02Z")
> [@laina\_f](#): > > Believe me, you really don’t want this. I was once so desperate that I went to a clinic that would do the work for the insurance payment. The place was filthy, the staff was extremely rude, and the dentist was incompetent and abusive. Either I didn’t get enough novacaine or it was improperly administered, but at one point tears started streaming down my face from the pain, and the dentist threw a nasty little fit and left the room, saying he’d come back when I decided to cooperate. Wow. That sounds really REALLY bad. Isn’t there insurance that has a higher fixed limit, rather than “100% of what you shoulda paid”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friendly-advice-to-younger-dopers/305433.md?page=1)