A map of my mouth.
This is the note I should bring to every dental appointment:
Why, yes, I am a mouth breather.
Isn’t it fascinating that I still have four baby teeth*?
I really don’t care which flavor of toothpaste you use because the taste of dentist’s toothpaste makes me gag.
I had a really bad experience with fluoride treatment as a child**, so I will always decline it.
*Two lower premolars never had adult teeth associated with them; two upper canines had impacted adult teeth associated with them. (The oral surgery to remove the impacted adult canines was much worse than having my wisdom teeth out. MUCH WORSE.)
**Speaking of my gag reflex, it came into play with the flouride-treated cotton strips one time. When it came time for the hygienist to remove the cotton, I started gagging…then the slippery cotton strip went right down my throat. (No, nope ER visit or anything out of that, just a silly story to tell twenty years later.)
Posted on October 24, 2007, in Doctors and dentists, Humor. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
I had flouride a few months ago when I went in for one of my treatments and it made me quite sick. They said some people have adverse reactions to the stuff, so I will likely decline it next time when they offer it to me.
Rachel – I love the new blog!
You have my sympathies for the impacted canine removal. It is the worst kind of tooth removal surgery there is!
As for the baby teeth though, you might be shocked by the number of adults who have no idea they still have baby teeth. Really this makes me worry about the abilities of some of the dentists these people have been treated by! After a few too many shock reactions, I now always ask if patients if they know about those teeth, even if I preface it with “I’m sure you’ve been told before but…” I probably irritate the hell out of the ones that do know!
Wow! That’s cool that you still have 4 baby teeth. I never knew it was possible for adults to still have them.
I have all 4 of my wisdom teeth and they all have plenty of room.
The two of us are anomalies ;)