making dental care accessible

This sentiment is, as always, disability/mental health friendly and if bodily maintenance is something you struggle with or cannot do on your own there is no moral failure there. We live in a world designed to prevent us from caring for ourselves and that system targets and fails you more than most. Doing the best with what you can and are able to do is always better than nothing.

This sentiment is, as always, very much meant for trans women. This sentiment is not a knock on HRT or surgery — that is a form of legitimate body maintenance. The point here is that you do not have to participate in capitalist femininity to be a "real woman" or to be feminine. You do not need a million products to be a woman. You do not need to be skinny to be a woman. You do not need to starve yourself to be a woman. Structural misogyny will try and pressure you into these things for gender validation and you do not need it. You do not need to validate your womanhood with patriarchal capitalism.

hello friends and followers. you may have noticed my recent absence from this blog, especially if you've sent an ask. i am dealing with some pretty heavy burnout at the moment exacerbated by a medical emergency in my family, seasonal depression, and worsening pain and fatigue. i'm also local to the twin cities and ICE has been very present in the communities where i live and work, so i'm doing what i can to support my neighbors during this time, which is of course taking up a lot of the time and energy i would normally be putting into this blog.

all this to say i haven't abandoned this project. i have an inbox full of asks that i still plan to get to and lots of thoughts and updates to share when time and energy allows. thanks for being patient with me while i take some time to try to pull myself out of some dark stuff.

just, stoking a momentary fervor in my soul for clean teeth.

People who have not been instructed often brush for less than one minute, that's not enough for the full benefit of toothpaste!

Cleaning every tooth from every side should be your metric. Interdental spaces (between your teeth and behind the last ones), on top, outside, inside. Brush every tooth and make sure you get down to the gingival margin. Being aware of where you are brushing and not leaving any tooth or surface out is my reccomendation. Not everyone has perfectly straight teeth, some people accumulate more plaque than others, some people need to be slower to be gentle and thorough and that is all okay.

Shower

Brush teeth

Honestly just hygiene I feel so gross atm this is so bad

by this i mean: simply stand first. when you're ready to do more, walk to the doorway. get to the doorway and feel like you have the will to continue? good. aim for your kitchen first.

work in bursts. this might work just starting there, but if not: you can scramble an egg into a bowl and microwave it for 90 seconds and it'll be cooked. sprinkle a little salt and pepper on it before you put it in.

when it's ready, sit down to eat it. let yourself rest for a bit so your body can get some energy from your food beginning to digest. that's about the point i start feeling like i have enough momentum to do the rest

now‚ for the future: find a basket or make space in your bedside table or something. have a tub under the bed. whatever you have room for.

get some face wipes. i use cheap walmart brand makeup cleanser wipes. keep them next to or under your bed. keep a mini hair brush (a cheap one from dollar tree works) with those wipes. get yourself some floss picks (i use plackers) and keep some there, too. they don't really sell them where i live anymore, but you can apparently get a 2-pack of scope no-water toothbrushes at dollar tree for a buck and a half! and finally: walmart has little on-the-go chicken salad snack boxes. one or two of those would be good to put there too!

see posts that say “its okay to not brush your teeth because of mental illness”

don’t brush your teeth before bed for years

get moderate to severe gum sensitivity

- After each meal, rinse your mouth with water. This isn’t a replacement for brushing teeth nor flossing, but if you do this it can really help improve your oral health.

- You can swallow that water too!!! Especially helpful if you struggle with hydration.

- She recommended those little floss picks with two strings of floss. Also, they can be used multiple times!!! I typically get about five uses out of one pick and rinse between uses.

- Put that pick around your toothbrush as a reminder to floss :)

1-there is no Wrong time to brush your teeth.

2-travel toothbrush and fluoride-free toothpaste in the car so i can stop on the side of the road and brush when i realize ive forgot.

3- there is no wrong time to brush your teeth

Pulling out @godtier's reblog from this post so it's front and centre when I put it into regular reblog circulation.

so I don't typically reblog stuff like this or blazed posts, but I see some takes in the notes that are harmful. I don't like to see misinformation being spread so here's my info dump:

there is no effective substitute for brushing and flossing. anyone who tells you "eat xyz instead if you can't handle brushing/flossing!" is giving you harmful information.

not brushing/flossing can obviously cause cavities, but an untreated cavity can lead to infection. infection can then lead to other complications such as sepsis and death!

your mouth (as well as the nose and other mucous membranes) is the entry point to the rest of your body, so it must be respected as such. your mouth is ingesting the atmosphere and microbes of your environment every time you breathe, speak, eat, etc.

while your immune system does do most of the heavy lifting when ingesting/inhaling microbes, continuous neglect of the mouth can lead to increased bouts of illness.

I know this is the Mental Illness™️ site, but unfortunately, there is no "substitute" for this hygiene task for those who have sensory issues that will eliminate the task completely in a conventional manner. but i understand the struggle deeply; i have sensitive teeth and gums due to genetics so if i use certain toothbrushes or floss, it can cause me serious discomfort. if you do have sensory issues, instead try:

a very soft bristled brush. colgate has a super-soft bristled toothbrush called the "gum expert ultra soft (https://amzn.to/4gYhQyd)" toothbrush. i have used this toothbrush myself multiple times as i have very sensitive teeth and gums, as mentioned above. it's dense and pleasant on the mouth and does not have the "sharp, pokey" sensation a lot of other standard soft bristle brushes have.

use a waterpik for flossing instead of standard floss. this helps immensely with those who are afraid of nicking their gums or who have sensitive gums to start with. i have used waterpik's "aquarius water flosser (https://amzn.to/41SpqpZ)" and it does a great job at flossing without hurting my gums. it has different strength settings that can be increased incrementally so as to get your gums used to the sensation. do keep in mind that these can be noisy and if you have hard water, you may see sediment build-up in the tank, but that is harmless and can be alleviated by running distilled water or descaling solution through the device periodically. don't forget to rinse it after descaling!

alcohol-free mouthwash, if necessary. mouthwash isn't as crucial as brushing & flossing, but if you need extra cleansing, you can get something like listerine's "zero alcohol mouthwash (https://amzn.to/3W1ccDq)," which comes in different "flavors" or varieties. remember that mouthwash alone is not a substitute for brushing & flossing.

go to a dentist twice a year for a cleaning and fluoride treatment, if possible. many dentist offices offer payment plans for those without insurance and those with standard dental insurance can get the cleaning portion for free twice a year. fluoride treatment is often not covered by insurance, but it is usually relatively cheap (my dentist charges $25 for the fluoride treatment) and worth the cost if you got a bad roll for dental stats in your genetics (like me).

as the OP stated, if there is one hygiene task you prioritize, make sure it's dental health as it can lead to a myriad of problems when ignored.

some source links for the info above:

Is It Possible to Die From a Tooth Infection? - healthline.com

Dental abscess: A potential cause of death and morbidity - Bayetto, K., Cheng, A., & Goss, A. (2020). Australian Journal of General Practice, 49(9), 563–567.

Signs and symptoms of tooth infection spreading to the body - medicalnewstoday.com

-I realized I had sensory issues and a location issue; I had spent so long ignoring sensory overwhelm that brushing my teeth at the bathroom sink became a block. I realized this once I started brushing my teeth in the shower and had a much easier time of it.

-I switched from the traditional Colgate/Crest/whatever mouthwash and went with on that was apple-flavored and mild at that.

-I have a relatively small mouth, so your average adult brushes are often too big. Even many of the kid brushes have heads that are uncomfortable. So I bought a toothbrush designed for babies, alongside several silicone 'finger brushes' also designed for baby mouths to retrain myself that brush =/= uncomfortable (which worked and eventually I moved myself off those but even now I look for extremely small toothbrush heads)

-In the same attempt to tackle the location issue, I put together a Tooth-kit in a small bag that I keep by my bed: Colgate wisps (small disposable toothbrushes with paste in the middle of the head and a pointy end good for picking between teeth), Squeeze mouthwash concentrate (small bottle of mouthwash you squeeze into a little lid and add water) and a mineralizing paste I got from my dentist. I almost always have a bottle of water by my bed and empty bottles within reach. I rinse/swish/fill cup for mouthwash with the water, and spit into the empty one, occasionally using tissues if I dribble or for some reason have to stick my fingers in my mouth. Yes, spitting into a bottle on my bed is gross, especially when I can see all the junk I'm spitting out. But the point of all that is...I'm brushing. I'm taking care of my teeth. I care for my teeth more often thanks to this kit than I think I have in my entire teenage years+adult life, and it's getting results via my dentist.

Here is a video on why to tongue scrape. But you want to scrape your tongue because there's food debris and bacteria there like with your teeth and gums.

Here's a good vid about how to scrape your tongue. And it also has some tips about dealing with gagging when tongue scraping.