Sometime last month, I visited the dentist after a 2.5 years of absence. I explained to the doctor that I was having occasional pain and swelling on one side of my jaw whenever I ate. I went to 2 general practioners and they told me that my lymphatic nodes were swollen, possibly due to injuries like swallowing a fish bone. I don’t think I’ve ever done that considering I hardly eat fish. Anyway, the dentist did an x-ray for me but nothing was wrong. After close examination of my oral structure, he suspected that I was suffering from a mild wisdom tooth infection and it caused my gums to inflame whenever there was food intake.
I got him to show me on his screen where my wisdom tooth was (yeah, yeah, very kampung, I know…but I haven’t been able to see my own wisdom tooth before). He said I didn’t have any yet. They’re still hidden under my gums. (See, no wonder I couldn’t see them!) No wonder I haven’t had much wisdom like a lot of people my age do. Anyway, I’ve digressed….
His treatment for me was first to do scaling to remove the plaques. Then he prescribed me some medicated mouth rinse to help with bleeding gum problems. The long-term help that he recommended was for me to keep flossing on a daily basis. I said I hate flossing because I could hardly get the floss in between my teeth and if I could, more often than not, my gums would bleed. He said it’s just a sign of me not flossing regularly. If I did, there shouldn’t be bleeding anymore. So he lectured me about how important flossing is for oral health and told me to go back to him in about 8 months. He wanted to know my progress. This is like homework!!!
And so I floss, gingerly at first but got steadier by the day. The swelling is pretty much gone. I don’t hate flossing as much now since I got the hang of it and my gums don’t bleed anymore. But I’m not addicted to it like I’ve heard many stories of people who are. But it’s not bad news at all to be addicted to flossing, after I read this from yesterday’s Star Papers. To cut a long story short, scientists found that bad oral health can lead to major complications in other parts of the body.
So if you haven’t been flossing, floss your way to better health!
I got him to show me on his screen where my wisdom tooth was (yeah, yeah, very kampung, I know…but I haven’t been able to see my own wisdom tooth before). He said I didn’t have any yet. They’re still hidden under my gums. (See, no wonder I couldn’t see them!) No wonder I haven’t had much wisdom like a lot of people my age do. Anyway, I’ve digressed….
His treatment for me was first to do scaling to remove the plaques. Then he prescribed me some medicated mouth rinse to help with bleeding gum problems. The long-term help that he recommended was for me to keep flossing on a daily basis. I said I hate flossing because I could hardly get the floss in between my teeth and if I could, more often than not, my gums would bleed. He said it’s just a sign of me not flossing regularly. If I did, there shouldn’t be bleeding anymore. So he lectured me about how important flossing is for oral health and told me to go back to him in about 8 months. He wanted to know my progress. This is like homework!!!
And so I floss, gingerly at first but got steadier by the day. The swelling is pretty much gone. I don’t hate flossing as much now since I got the hang of it and my gums don’t bleed anymore. But I’m not addicted to it like I’ve heard many stories of people who are. But it’s not bad news at all to be addicted to flossing, after I read this from yesterday’s Star Papers. To cut a long story short, scientists found that bad oral health can lead to major complications in other parts of the body.
So if you haven’t been flossing, floss your way to better health!
4 comments:
Flossing can be addictive! I actually get antsy if I don't floss after meals...some good habits picked up from years of braces! Keep up the flossing! :)
flossing away but still get lazy sometimes...
wow...i best start flossing too. I did try (for like 3 times after my last visit to the dentist year before last) but stopped due to pure laziness.
evs, let's do spot checks on each other by sms or phone calls. hahaha...you might find me such a pest that you'll floss everyday!
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