#dental

Permanent teeth of the right side. Practical information about the teeth : a book for the people. 1879.

Coyote HRT: Month 9.5

I have, for the last couple years, needed a good deal of dental work that I didn't have money for. Last year I broke a tooth and opted to get an implant and that ate up all my dental insurance for last year and this year as well as most of my CareCredit account.

(That tooth broke because I put off getting a crown because the insurance I had didn't cover it and then I changed insurance and neglected to get it done until, oops, it broke.)

So I've known I have a good number of cavities that need to be done but I was putting it off because I was quoted like $1500 to get it all done last year.

I'm getting some money as payout for my car accident from two years ago so I'm gonna have the money to throw at things so item one was going and getting all the dental stuff I need. So today I went for my cleaning and checkup.

And I now need a lot LESS work done, according to this new dentist I saw. He said, yes, you have several other small cavities in various places but they are actually recalcifying and fixing themselves.

They're WHAT?

So here's what I learned today. Cavities can fix themselves. If you change your diet or your oral hygiene and work on improving things, you can actually heal cavities.

And for the last year I've been really trying to work on things, after that tooth breaking scare which was terrifying. I've been using prescription high flouride toothpaste along with flouride mouthwash and being really obsessive about brushing before bed. I also quit drinking coffee which was the first thing the dentist mentioned that can affect it. (I quit due to stomach issues not dental ones but...)

So I just did a light googling and yeah this is a real thing. You can regrow and fill in cavities that are small. So I only need three fillings right now and they'll just monitor the other ones. And I got more RX paste and detailed advice on what still needs improvement.

I told my husband, who has always had terrible teeth (to the extent he now has upper dentures) and neither of us knew this was a thing. Which goes to show you how uneducated people are about dental health. I just always thought you either have to perfectly take care of teeth or once you get a cavity it will just get worse and worse until you get it filled or lose the tooth.

Honestly I think knowing you can UNDO a cavity with diet and care is much more encouragement to do those things, right? Like, okay I slipped and was negligent for a while but it does actually matter that I'm doing the right things now?

I’m sorry this question is probably incredibly cursed and is definitely being influenced by my own harrowing wisdom tooth experience but like

Cultivators are absolutely losing teeth in fights right?

How is this addressed? I’m woefully uninformed about Xianxia dental practices. Is Liu Qingge just like shoving a tooth back into his mouth to let it heal or is it more

Either way has horrific implications to me.

[ID: Scum Villain fanart. Liu Qingge kicks open Mu Qingfang's door with a violent crack while holding a nondescript bag and yells "Mu Qingfang! I need my teeth back!" while Mu Qingfang stares at the camera in tired resignation. END ID]