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You might be like most people and have a real hard time going to the dentist. Well, I consider myself in the same boat. I haven’t been to the dentist for a regular checkup in probably 3 or 4 years. It is just hard to convince myself to spend the money and take the time to actually schedule an appointment, drive all the way to the office, and sit in the chair while the lady scrapes the soul out of my poor teeth with her dentist hook thing. I cannot stand that scraping sound whatsoever. However, there are certain times that I will go to the dentist even if I really don’t want to. One of those times was when I got my wisdom teeth removed before they could go any further down into the nerves in my jaw. The dentist said that they were already pretty far down into the nerves, so while I was recovering from surgery my jaw was numb and tingly where they had ripped the nerves out of my face. Anyways, I wanted to share with you a few instances in which you should definitely be going to the dentist at your earliest convenience.

The first and most obvious reason that you should be going to the dentist is if you are experiencing a large amount of pain or swelling in your gums, teeth, or mouth in general. Nobody likes to spend a lot of time and money getting their mouth checked out by a dentist, but it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to oral pain. Tooth pain is probably some of the most excruciating and painful experiences that a human being can suffer from. I believe hearing somewhere that tooth pain can be so awful because the nerve endings don’t have to travel up the spinal cord and instead go straight to your brain, causing the pain to be a lot more severe. Whatever the case, if you are experiencing abnormal amounts of pain in your mouth, you should definitely be hitting up the dentist. 

Another reason to be going to the dentist is if you have had a past history of dental treatment and medical intervention in your mouth. I think that most people living in our sugar-dominated society have had at least one cavity in their lifetime. It is important to make sure that your fillings are staying in good condition. I have only ever had one cavity in my life, and I remember specifically wanting them to put a silver or gold filling in my teeth because I thought it looked cool.

My mom wouldn’t let me and only allowed for them to put a tooth-colored filling in - I remember being so upset with her because I wanted to look like a mobster and have all the other kids at school gawk over my sick new crown. However, looking back, I am so glad that my mom prevented me from getting a colored filling because it would just look so weird on a young guy like me.