Go to the Dentist
Hopefully you brush your teeth. You floss. You use anti-bacterial mouth rinse. You chew sugar free gum between meals. But if you don’t go to the dentist, you might end up having to get gum surgery like me. Go to the dentist regularly, it is worth the money even if you don’t have insurance.
As I did not have dental insurance, and personally have no love for the experience of visiting my dentist, I let it go for the first few years of running my business. I was broke after all. When I finally did get dental insurance last year and popped in for a visit, the hygienist looked at me with an aghast expression and asked how long it had been since my last visit. FIVE AND A HALF YEARS, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!? Needless to say, it wasn’t pretty. Two gum surgeries later, I am doing better. In retrospect, a $50-75 teeth cleaning visit, even just once a year, would probably have been wise.
Short blog, important thought. If you are running a small business or an independent contractor, make sure you fit in a few small preventative health care visits.
From the horses mouth.
One fun and useful thing one can also do is using those dye-pills. They show if there are any blind spots in your brushing habits. You brush your teeth normally. Then chew one of those red pills and spit out the liquid. Rinse your mouth and look at the red marks showing the areas your brushing totally missed. Brushing again, until the red marks are gone, teaches you to brush better.
Sorry to hear about the dentist! I’m usually on top of things as far as cleanings go, but last year I let a chipped tooth go too long before getting it fixed…
My punishment? It chipped even further - low enough that I had to have crown lengthening surgery before they could even put in a crown.
What’s crown lengthening? Oh, that’s a wonderful procedure where they open up your gums and shave down the bone (yes, the BONE!) low enough so that you can get a crown - then they stitch you back up and you have to wait another 6 weeks before they can even start the crown prep work on the tooth itself. Of course, that only gives you a temporary crown - it’s a couple more weeks of waiting before the “real” crown comes in, etc.
What fun! Real nice on the bank account, too. LOL.
Hope you heal quickly, and thanks for passing the lesson onto everyone! Definitely not something to be postponed!
@Lynoure - that really a pretty good idea - where do you get them?
@Selene - damn - that makes me feel a little better. of course, this is a club that no one else should join!
@Shane - oh absolutely! No one else should come near this club (and I’ll never return, myself, lol). Needless to say, I was OUT like a light for that procedure!
Here in Finland pharmacies sell them. “Dental disclosing tablets” seems to be their proper name in English.
sounds like fun. yikes!
i went about 6 years between visits. had to go back, broke a filling, thankfully that was it.
wifey is a hygienist - i go regularly now.
not that i like it or anything.
Shane, that photo is hilarious!
I found that it helps to find a dentist that you love. But more importantly, as a contractor it’s easy to neglect things like this. Thanks for the reminder.
(yes, i know, i know, i have to get my wisdom teeth pulled…. but i don’t wanna)
By the way, did i mention that i love my dentist! He’s a geek, just like me. Last time he let me help fabricate my own crown using 3d software and a crown rendering machine. (i pushed the start button
)
Ouch… Thanks for the reminder, Shane!
I’ve been trying to get myself to go to the dentist for a while now as well. As I’m still officially a student, it won’t cost me much, but it’s just so hard to get a time reserved. Have to start trying again. :/
@Peter: Wow, you sure have found the perfect dentist! He must be one of his kind.
Oh man! I’ve been there. That first visit back (and the subsequent root canals, fillings, and super duper cleanings) was NOT fun.
So I finally got myself a cleaning appointment (tomorrow)!!