Does anybody read these?

The dental ritual...

So, today I went back to Dr. Swang's office for my check-up and a cleaning. And today we learned that if I'd like to have teeth indefinitely, I need to start taking better care of them.

I hate brushing my teeth. I have very strong lip and jaw muscles and a very strong gag reflex. All of this makes brushing my teeth very difficult. You'd think as much as I hate the dentist, I'd brush more often to avoid going and having work done. But I just can't stand having all that stuff in my mouth.

But I need to keep my teeth, if for no other reason that dentures are expensive and actually require more maintenance than regular teeth. (Trust me, I'm about to learn all about that, as we are going to replace the hole in my mouth with a partial denture.)

I have to brush my teeth three times a day now, for at least 2 minutes each time. Morning, after lunch and before I go to bed. Every day. Forever.

I just did it for the first time before I sat down to write this. I did pretty well, but I ended up throwing up during the last minute of the middle brushing part.

This is my evening dental ritual.

Floss (It's really not as bad as I thought.)
Listerine whitening rinse
Brush for 2 minutes with enamel-strengthening toothpaste and electric toothbrush
Brush for 2 minutes with prescription, plaque prevention toothpaste and dry regular tooth brush.

Morning ritual is whitening rinse, regular brushing with electric toothbrush and listerine rinse.

After lunch is just 2 minutes of brushing.

I'll be curious to see how my teeth look at my 6-month check up in August. I do like how clean my teeth feel. I think I might at some point get used to it enough that I won't throw up, which would be great!

posted by Laura at 1:07 AM