You Asked For It!!!

Ok! Well, many of you have asked me to post dental advice on this blog. I have hesitated to do that because basically all of my friends don't need dental advice because the all have good teeth-Trust me, couldn't be your friend if not. Anyways, lately, I have been getting THE worst patients of my career and because this office is so techno-savvy I can take pictures of patient's teeth and show them how gross they are to make them understand.
Everyone has been SO shocked that I have blogged so much this week, so I thought I would give you all a REAL shocker! If you have a weak stomach-you may not want to progress further if you can help it! The funny thing about that is that I faint at the EYE doctor and this is what I do everyday! Don't ask me to explain that one.




This is a 19 year old boy who just can't seem to remember to brush his teeth. He doesn't even brush everyday! GROSS! I have NO tolerance for this nonsense and I told him that too!! You can prevent this plaque from forming on your teeth just by brushing for 2 minutes everyday!
I mean SERIOUSLY!! This is the worst kind of patient for me-nasty, nasty! We call this "Fuzzy Sweater Mouth"



This is a 55 year old man who hasn't been to the dentist in over 25 years. He had a dentist stick a needle through his cheek or lip or something and feared the dentist so bad that he just never went. The first picture is the day I first saw him. The second picture is after 2 appts that were 3 hours long each. I cleaned his right side at one appt and his left side at another. I thought he was going to have a stroke in my chair-you should have seen this 400 lb man hanging over my chair all hooked up to the Nitrous (laughing gas), blood pressure cuff taking his BP every 3 minutes, and headphones. And then there was me, the little hygienist that could hardly even wrap my arms around the man to clean his teeth. It was EXHAUSTING! Now do you see why I don't blog daily-my arms are too tired after work!

Thankfully, many of us will not have to experience this problem due to the MANY advances in dentistry while we were young. Thank goodness for sealants. This is a typical broken tooth/filling. Those old silver fillings start to break down and cause cracks in your teeth. Eventually, if the crack gets to large before you replace the filling with another filling or a crown, your tooth will break! Bummer. So, if your dentist tells you that you need to get a crown because of a crack or that you have some older silver fillings to replace, Just Do It!! Don't let this happen-it is way more involved!

I hope I didn't gross too many of you out. I suggest scheduling your 6 month hygiene visit today if you are overdue! Hahaha...Have a great day-Tomorrow's FRIDAY!!! Yippee!!!