Why You Should Be Going To The Dentist

For some reason, people have this extremely weird aversion to going to the dentist. I have honestly never been able to figure out what people hate so much about going to the dentist. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s not like they are going to kill you or cause you any extreme pain. With modern medicine in this day and age, it’s very rare that you will face any serious pain when going to the dentist. Maybe some mild discomfort, but I am sure you can handle that.

The thing is, if you think about what dental care used to look like a hundred years ago or more, we have it pretty good in 2021. For example, pretty much any operation you could undergo at the dentist will be heavily aided by anesthetic and different types of painkillers. You don’t even have to be awake a lot of the time, depending on what you’re receiving care for at the dentist. I know that for me personally, I was completely knocked out when I had my wisdom teeth removed at the oral surgeon's place. Super great experience to just be completely dead to the world for a hot second, not even aware that I’m still alive or not. I think I imagine death being like that - where you aren’t even able to be aware that you’re dead. You just enter a deep state of sleep forever. 

Anyways, sorry that got a little bit dark. What I am trying to tell you is that you should definitely be going to the dentist at least twice a year, or every six months if that’s easier for you to understand. I have come up with a short list of reasons for why you should be going to the dentist regularly. The first reason is because oral cancer exists, and you might be at risk. I know that’s hard to hear, but I am telling you the truth when I say things can get really bad for you if you have oral cancer. Oral cancer is an extremely serious disease and can manifest itself in your mouth in a variety of ways.

The biggest way to beat oral cancer is to simply catch it early and try to stop it before it gets too bad. Going to the dentist for a regular checkup is critical in being able to quickly catch mouth cancer before it can get worse. Dentists are highly trained to recognize early signs of oral cancer. Even if you may not notice any abnormalities within your mouth, your dentist definitely will and will be able to help you out in the long run.

Another reason that you should be going to the dentist is because they can treat you for plaque, tartar, and cavities. Even if you have great dental hygiene, brush your teeth religiously, and even floss on the regular, you are still susceptible to missing some areas and this can lead to tooth decay. No one enjoys getting their teeth cleaned at the dentist, but there is a reason that they take it so seriously. It’s because a lot of that plaque and tartar needs to be removed before it can develop into cavities and lead to tooth decay. Now get off your chair and go to the dentist!

What The Heck Are Wisdom Teeth And Why Do We Have Them

I had my wisdom teeth taken a few months ago. I was the last of most of my friends and my siblings to have gotten my wisdom teeth removed. I had planned on getting them taken out the summer of 2020 after school let out, but after everything happened with the pandemic, I instead found myself having to wait another full year before I could get my teeth out. Since having to wait so long, the dentists were saying that my teeth would be a bit harder to pull out because they have become a lot more developed. I wasn’t really too worried about the whole process, until I showed up to have them taken out that morning.

As we did the x-rays to make sure of which teeth were going to be removed, the doctors ended up finding two more teeth that were stuck way up in the back part of my mouth. This meant that I had 6 wisdom teeth instead of 4 - a rarity that apparently only occurs in 2% or less of the population. I was scared after learning this news because I didn’t want my parents to have to pay more money to the surgeon and I didn’t want to have more complications with the surgery. However, the dental surgeon assured me that it would not cost extra to get them out and that it would be a simple addition to those extra teeth.

Getting my wisdom teeth removed got me thinking; why the heck do we have wisdom teeth? It seems like the only purpose for those dumb teeth is to absolutely screw up people’s mouths and cause a lot of pain and problems for people. So I did some research about wisdom teeth and it actually turned up some pretty interesting stuff. I was curious what people did before modern medicine when their wisdom teeth came in.

I mean, if we have to have such advanced medicine and anesthetic available to comfortably get those teeth, what happened to some peasant in the 1500s who needed to get those suckers removed? Well I didn’t find the exact answers to my question that I wanted to, but I did find some pretty interesting stuff. It turns out that 85% of Americans have their wisdom teeth taken out, and only 2% of people that don’t get their wisdom teeth taken out can make it through life without those 3rd molars becoming cavities or leading to gum disease or something. So it begs the question, what’s the point of those 3rd molars if they exist simply to destroy our precious mouths?

Well, some research suggests that those molars were more useful to our ancestors that lived more hunter/gatherer lifestyles, which could make sense because their mouths were better suited for crushing and eating plants and seeds that they come across. It is also said that the human brain has increased in size by a significant amount over time (which is why I’m smarter than every person who lived before the year 1200) and this meant that it had to expand the size of our brain cavity in our head. Consequently, human jaws have been shrinking to make room for the brain to increase in size and our wisdom teeth in back have just had to deal with it I suppose. Another interesting thing about wisdom teeth is that they are completely made up.

Looking For Ways to Whiten Your Teeth At Home?

If you’re like me, then you care a lot about your dental hygiene. However, it’s no secret that taking care of your teeth can get extremely expensive. What do I mean by this? Well, if you go to any sort of lengths to take care of your teeth, you’re going to find yourself spending a lot of money. And I don’t just mean spending money on going to the dentist, which is undoubtedly very expensive all on it’s own. No, what I’m talking about is getting those super expensive teeth whitening products that can be found in a variety of supermarkets, department stores, and pharmacies. Personally, I don’t make enough money as a gas station attendant at Circle K to drop a coll 30 bucks on some teeth whitening strip with approximately one active ingredient. Honestly, it makes me sad to see how much companies like to charge for simple whitening products. 

That’s why, me being the technologically savvy person that I am, I have turned to the internet to search for more resources to whiten my teeth at home. After all, I have a huge addiction to coffee which can create a lot of problems for my teeth getting stained. Well, I must say that it’s not quite an addiction, because I believe that I could stop drinking coffee if I wanted to. I don’t really want to stop drinking coffee because sometimes it’s just about the only thing I have to look forward to each day. I usually have one cup of coffee when I wake up in the morning with my breakfast, and then I’ll have another one on my way to work. I feel like two cups in the morning is not such a bad thing, especially because I drink one hot out of the Keurig, and then the other one is some cold brew that I picked up at Kroger that I mix with almond milk. I especially like the vanilla flavored almond milk; it’s super yummy!

Anyways, if you’re like me and have found yourself in quite the predicament with your coffee habit and your desire to have some white teeth, I have found some solutions on the internet that do not require you to drop serious cash on a solution. The first one I have is to simply use hydrogen peroxide. If you don’t know what hydrogen peroxide is, you’ve pretty much been missing out on one of the greatest products for your entire life. All joking aside, hydrogen peroxide is great for whitening your teeth, and it is even used as an active ingredient in most teeth whitening products that you’ll spend a lot of money on at the store. Hydrogen peroxide is super cheap, and you can get a huge bottle of it for a few bucks. All it takes is a little bit of mixing with water (like 1 part hydrogen peroxide and 2 parts water) and you can whiten your teeth by swishing it around in your mouth for a few minutes. 

Even people in the olden days used hydrogen peroxide to kill bacteria in their mouth and to whiten their teeth. Honestly, if you aren’t using hydrogen peroxide on a regular basis, you are simply wasting your time as far as I’m concerned. Whiten your teeth and stop going to the dentist!

Stop Drinking Sugary Drinks - It’s Bad For Your Teeth

I need you to stop what you’re doing right now and listen to me. I am taking the time out of my super important and busy day to write this article in a way that will capture your attention long enough for you to listen to me. Today I am going to be writing about the threat that you face each and every day if you partake in drinking very sugary drinks. Honestly, America is facing a bigger issue than economic recession and social security - I’m talking about the issue of soft drinks and similar beverages. What am I talking about? Well, I’m glad you asked. Because I have been waiting so long to be able to finally tell someone about this huge problem that has been laid heavy on my poor soul. I will first start this by telling you a story about my dental hygiene.

I used to be your average, everyday dude, until one day I was not. It all started in my early twenties, when I found a newly discovered affinity for sugary drinks. It didn’t matter to me if it was soda, juice, kool-aid, sports drinks, or alcoholic drinks - if there was a lot of sugar, I drank it all the time. My favorite drink was redbull, because it always got me absolutely juicing during my workday and I would type faster than anybody else you’ve ever seen. Have you ever heard of the peach edition red bull? Well, it’s a game changer. I am telling you all this to let you know that my teeth are absolutely destroyed. I went to the dentist several weeks ago because I noticed my teeth were in a lot more pain than usual, and I even had started to notice some bad breath pretty much all the time. Well, my worst fears became true when the dentist told me that my teeth were basically eating themselves and rotting so badly that it was causing an infection in my gums. As you can imagine, this meant that I pretty much had to go get all the rotting teeth pulled out so as to not succumb to mouth cancer in 4 years. 

I asked my dentist what could have possibly caused this to happen to my mouth, because I had no idea that my lifestyle choices were leading to such a dark future regarding my dental hygiene. Well, believe it or not, the doctor told me that excessive drinking of sugary drinks like soda and energy drinks ruined my teeth. The sugar was too much on top of the fact that I don’t regularly floss my teeth or even floss them. The dentist said this is what they called “the motherload '' of decaying teeth, and that there was absolutely nothing they could do to save my poor pearly whites (well, they were mostly gray/brown towards the end of their life). Now I have no teeth in my mouth and I am forced to wear dentures the rest of my life. I understand that it could be worse, and that if this were to happen to a peasant in the 1400s, they would most likely die of infection rather than live semi-comfortably with dentures.

Anyways, my hope for you is that you stop drinking sugary drinks - it’s bad for your teeth.

You’re Paying Too Much To Whiten Your Teeth

White teeth have quickly become the beauty standard for most Americans in this day and age. Perfect teeth are shown everywhere across television, movies, and other media, making people feel like they have to be able to match up with the models and movie stars of our generation. Consequently, people are constantly practicing different methods of whitening their teeth. People are even avoiding things that will lead to more tooth stains. Ever since smoking cigarettes has become less popular, there was hope for the teeth of America.

However, there are still lots of things that can lead to stained teeth that are not as bad for you or as dangerous as smoking. A big one for me is coffee - I absolutely love coffee and drink it at least once a day. I wouldn’t quite say that I have an addiction to coffee, because I could definitely stop if I needed too. However, I would be really sad about it and definitely miss it. Perhaps I would get a few headaches for the first week or two without coffee, but my body would recover I’m sure.

Anyways, since I started drinking coffee so regularly, I was interested in different methods of whitening my teeth. I personally think having white teeth is a very attractive physical trait, so I want to make sure I’m doing my best to keep my pearly whites looking flashy while I indulge myself in my coffee habit. The hard thing about looking for ways to whiten your teeth is that most products you can find in stores are so expensive. Seriously, teeth whitening products can be so pricey.

Whether it’s some sort of whitening toothpaste, whitening strips, or teeth whitening mouthwash or other treatments, you can find yourself paying upwards of 50 or 60 dollars by the time you’re done. That should be a crime! So I spent some time researching different means of whitening your teeth that fall under the umbrella of home remedies. So if you have been looking for ways to whiten your teeth recently but don’t want to pay a hefty price just for some stupid whitening strips, then I have some good suggestions for you.

The method I use mostly comes from the brilliant discovery of hydrogen peroxide. If you don’t know what hydrogen peroxide is, I can’t really tell you much about it besides that it is really cheap and comes in a weird looking plastic bottle. Hydrogen peroxide works great to whiten teeth, and that is backed by scientific evidence! In fact, if you look at the active ingredients in any name brand teeth whitening product, you’ll most likely find hydrogen peroxide to be present.

So rather than pay way too much, just buy a cheap bottle of hydrogen peroxide from the store for a cheap and easy way to whiten your teeth at home. You can either swish hydrogen peroxide around in your mouth with some water like you would regular mouthwash, or you can mix it with baking soda to create a paste with which you can brush your teeth to whiten. Hydrogen peroxide will surely whiten your teeth overtime, and you’ll worry less about people making fun of you behind your back or not accepting you into their social circle because your teeth aren’t white enough or something like that.