The Ongoing Saga of My Teeth
Jul. 23rd, 2014 02:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rinueThose of you who have followed this journal for a while know that my teeth are like Catwoman: beautiful and often helpful, but ultimately trying to kill me. Beneath my face lies the deteriorating jaw of a 70-year-old. So it's tissue graft time again, although this time my own tissue instad of more corpse bone or robot parts. In about a month, they'll move some of the roof of my mouth onto my gumline to protect my tooth roots.*
It occurred to me during my cleaning today that the question dentists always ask me about "staining on just your front teeth - do you drink a lot of coffee?" is perhaps not about coffee (answer: I drink an average amount for a coffee drinker in the U.S., which I can say with confidence because this is an over-researched area), but a stealth way of asking whether I smoke, a major contributor to gum disease and oral cancers.
Or they could just be asking whether I drink a lot of coffee.
* Following up on my specialty prescription drug cost entry of a few days ago, the lifetime amount of money spent on my teeth is still I think less than my college costs (grad and undergrad combined), but not entirely out of the ballpark. I can't give an exact number because a lot of it was when I was a minor and not paying my own bills, and there's at least one inpatient surgery where I don't know what the insurance company paid out.
It occurred to me during my cleaning today that the question dentists always ask me about "staining on just your front teeth - do you drink a lot of coffee?" is perhaps not about coffee (answer: I drink an average amount for a coffee drinker in the U.S., which I can say with confidence because this is an over-researched area), but a stealth way of asking whether I smoke, a major contributor to gum disease and oral cancers.
Or they could just be asking whether I drink a lot of coffee.
* Following up on my specialty prescription drug cost entry of a few days ago, the lifetime amount of money spent on my teeth is still I think less than my college costs (grad and undergrad combined), but not entirely out of the ballpark. I can't give an exact number because a lot of it was when I was a minor and not paying my own bills, and there's at least one inpatient surgery where I don't know what the insurance company paid out.
ow, teeth
Date: 2014-07-23 06:41 pm (UTC)I find I get about the same amount of staining whether I drink coffee or tea but that using a whitening rinse before bed seems to keep it balanced out, though it never really improves anything.
Hope this goes well and you feel better quickly after all the poking prodding and prying.
Re: ow, teeth
Date: 2014-07-23 06:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-31 04:02 am (UTC)