Just one quick bitch ...

[TheoK]

It's not clear what's the egg and the hen in the gum health-immune system topic.

[Peter]

My two lost molars (one in the left upper jaw and the other in the right lower) has partly to do with the fact that I had a stupid cow as a dentist in the 1980s. She was about to make new fillings, becuase the old ones had broken, and since I (14 at the time) had read about the dangers about mercury, I demanded to have composite fillings. She did a sloppy job. Bitch.

But I was right, as I usually am. Now, almost 25 years later, mercury is about to be banned completely in Europe.

I've got a mouth full of mercury amalgam fillings. 

[Peter]

Try one of those mouth guards my wife can't sleep with it on but maybe you can

It's very hard to get used to them. I've had three. And they cost like 2000 kronor now, I think. We must pay our beloved politicians and Muslims. 

Can't you use one of those mouth guards you buy in sports shops for a couple of pounds?

[TheoK]

My two lost molars (one in the left upper jaw and the other in the right lower) has partly to do with the fact that I had a stupid cow as a dentist in the 1980s. She was about to make new fillings, becuase the old ones had broken, and since I (14 at the time) had read about the dangers about mercury, I demanded to have composite fillings. She did a sloppy job. Bitch.

But I was right, as I usually am. Now, almost 25 years later, mercury is about to be banned completely in Europe.

I've got a mouth full of mercury amalgam fillings. 

You should let a good dentist carefully remove the amalgam and put in glas ionomer instead. I never had any troubles with glas ionomer.

[TheoK]

Try one of those mouth guards my wife can't sleep with it on but maybe you can

It's very hard to get used to them. I've had three. And they cost like 2000 kronor now, I think. We must pay our beloved politicians and Muslims. 

Can't you use one of those mouth guards you buy in sports shops for a couple of pounds?

I can afford a real protection but it needs to be done by a specialist, and there is only one in the public tooth care in the whole county (with 1.5 million inhabitants  ), and we are not very good friends...

[Peter]

I don't bite my molars because I really don't want to grind down my teeth, but I end up clenching my jaw muscles and giving myself earaches instead.

I don't want to grind down my molars either, but ...  (actually, my molars are in great shape - it is my lower fronts that are loosening up and will likely fail first - I've already had a four-quadrant gingivectomy and I have my teeth cleaned every three months, but there is always a build-up below the gumline at my lower fronts)

It's not a matter of "want to"  or not. It is an unconscious response to stress and sometimes it apparently happens in my sleep.

The alligatorclamping thing actually hurts like hell and often awakens me with a bleeding tongue or a chomped inner cheek. It is not a choice I make. It is an involuntary response.

That sounds painful.

Do you use an electric toothbrush or a regular one?

Both and a Waterpic and floss and an electric ultrasonic flosser and special nylon toothpicks and little gum brushes that fit between my teeth at the gumline.
 

I don't want to ever have my gums peeled back and my jawbones and the roots of my teeth scraped again.


Take care of your teeth people, BEFORE you develop any kind of periodontal illnesses.
The really bad thing was that the condition of my gums was affecting my entire immune system, before I discovered what was wrong.

Wow, that's impressive how well you take care of your teeth and gums now.

I use an electric toothbrush and I use ordinary floss almost every day.  I know I should floss every day but occasionally I forget to do it. 

I have one of those little gum brushes, but it only fits between two of my back teeth and it's a very tight fit there, so I don't use it very often.

I was wondering if you had some problem with your immune system that caused the gum problems in the first place.

I use an electric toothbrush several times a day and floss daily.  I also sometimes use gum-brushes, but I need the xxx-fine ones to get between my teeth, and they break after a couple of uses and are expensive, so I don't use them very often, but they're really effective when I do use them.

[Peter]

My two lost molars (one in the left upper jaw and the other in the right lower) has partly to do with the fact that I had a stupid cow as a dentist in the 1980s. She was about to make new fillings, becuase the old ones had broken, and since I (14 at the time) had read about the dangers about mercury, I demanded to have composite fillings. She did a sloppy job. Bitch.

But I was right, as I usually am. Now, almost 25 years later, mercury is about to be banned completely in Europe.

I've got a mouth full of mercury amalgam fillings. 

You should let a good dentist carefully remove the amalgam and put in glas ionomer instead. I never had any troubles with glas ionomer.

Should I have the bill send to your address? 

[Callaway]

My two lost molars (one in the left upper jaw and the other in the right lower) has partly to do with the fact that I had a stupid cow as a dentist in the 1980s. She was about to make new fillings, becuase the old ones had broken, and since I (14 at the time) had read about the dangers about mercury, I demanded to have composite fillings. She did a sloppy job. Bitch.

But I was right, as I usually am. Now, almost 25 years later, mercury is about to be banned completely in Europe.

I've got a mouth full of mercury amalgam fillings. 

I do too.  I have had a few of them replaced with composite fillings, but only a few because they have to remove the entire old filling to do it.

[Parts]

I have sleepys in my eyes

[TheoK]

My two lost molars (one in the left upper jaw and the other in the right lower) has partly to do with the fact that I had a stupid cow as a dentist in the 1980s. She was about to make new fillings, becuase the old ones had broken, and since I (14 at the time) had read about the dangers about mercury, I demanded to have composite fillings. She did a sloppy job. Bitch.

But I was right, as I usually am. Now, almost 25 years later, mercury is about to be banned completely in Europe.

I've got a mouth full of mercury amalgam fillings. 

You should let a good dentist carefully remove the amalgam and put in glas ionomer instead. I never had any troubles with glas ionomer.

Should I have the bill send to your address? 

No, bill the UK government, who poisioned you in the first place. I got all of mine replaced when I still had free dental care. 

[TheoK]

My two lost molars (one in the left upper jaw and the other in the right lower) has partly to do with the fact that I had a stupid cow as a dentist in the 1980s. She was about to make new fillings, becuase the old ones had broken, and since I (14 at the time) had read about the dangers about mercury, I demanded to have composite fillings. She did a sloppy job. Bitch.

But I was right, as I usually am. Now, almost 25 years later, mercury is about to be banned completely in Europe.

I've got a mouth full of mercury amalgam fillings. 

I do too.  I have had a few of them replaced with composite fillings, but only a few because they have to remove the entire old filling to do it.

When the filling isn't too big, they can drill just outside it, thus also removing mercury infested dental material.

[DirtDawg]

I don't bite my molars because I really don't want to grind down my teeth, but I end up clenching my jaw muscles and giving myself earaches instead.

I don't want to grind down my molars either, but ...  (actually, my molars are in great shape - it is my lower fronts that are loosening up and will likely fail first - I've already had a four-quadrant gingivectomy and I have my teeth cleaned every three months, but there is always a build-up below the gumline at my lower fronts)

It's not a matter of "want to"  or not. It is an unconscious response to stress and sometimes it apparently happens in my sleep.

The alligatorclamping thing actually hurts like hell and often awakens me with a bleeding tongue or a chomped inner cheek. It is not a choice I make. It is an involuntary response.

That sounds painful.

Do you use an electric toothbrush or a regular one?

Both and a Waterpic and floss and an electric ultrasonic flosser and special nylon toothpicks and little gum brushes that fit between my teeth at the gumline.
 

I don't want to ever have my gums peeled back and my jawbones and the roots of my teeth scraped again.


Take care of your teeth people, BEFORE you develop any kind of periodontal illnesses.
The really bad thing was that the condition of my gums was affecting my entire immune system, before I discovered what was wrong.

Wow, that's impressive how well you take care of your teeth and gums now.

I use an electric toothbrush and I use ordinary floss almost every day.  I know I should floss every day but occasionally I forget to do it. 

I have one of those little gum brushes, but it only fits between two of my back teeth and it's a very tight fit there, so I don't use it very often.

I was wondering if you had some problem with your immune system that caused the gum problems in the first place.

I don't think of it as impressive - more a game of catch up from behind and do my best to keep what I have left.

I never took good care of my teeth when I was young. My parents taught me to brush, but they had never even heard of floss (my father had false teeth at forty four and my mom, at forty nine, BTW). The first time I ever went to a dentist I was fourteen and I went because had a toothache. The dentist filled two cavities - it hurt like hell.

The next time I went to a dentist, I had all four of my wisdom teeth pulled at eighteen - it hurt like hell - but, I was in worse pain before.

I went back again for the third time when I was in my late twenties, because I had another cavity, but this time I had ignored the pain until I had forgotten how much the dentist had hurt me before and I was just about ready to shoot out my tooth that hurt. They did a root canal on a rear molar - it hurt like hell.

The point I want to make is that I only used dentistry, for the first two thirds of my life, as corrective measures and to FIX problems - it hurt like hell!
I assumed that dentistry always hurt like hell. This was a huge mistake, even considering that I have always been somewhat anal about the condition of my mouth  (yes, you can joke on that, but listen up!) and was always really scared to have bad breath. I brushed like a crazy man my entire life, used tongue scrapers, mouth wash, blah, blah, blah  and still did not prevent gum disease from becoming a problem in my late forties.
The true gift of scientific dentistry is that you can prevent an enormous assortment of problems by having your teeth professionally cleaned below the gumline, thus preventing the establishment of bacterial colonies which challenge your entire immune system.

If you can find a really good Hygienist, they can clean your teeth without much pain at all and you can keep your own teeth into your advanced-age years.

My teeth are fine now and my gums have even healed fairly well, but gawd!   - what a bunch of pain I went through to fix them all at once after they had gotten so bad. The only other thing to remember is that after having a gingivectomy, some of you gum tissue is actually removed - just the dead parts - and you will now have some exposed roots on some of your teeth. This causes increased sensitivity to certain things, such as temperature changes, some foods and even weather. So, getting the gums taken down a bit to make cleaning easier helps to keep your teeth, but it is only a pitiful compromise when compared to a life culture of good dental hygiene.

[TheoK]

I had an extremely good dentist, who cleaned below the gum line. It bled a lot, but afterwards I could really feel how the gum flesh became strong and healthy. One patient sued him for an extraction that the stupid patient him(her?)self asked for. My dentist won but quit and started selling computers instead. 

[TheoK]

But...great grandma probably never went to a dentist for anything but extractions, and she lived until theree weeks before her 90th birthday.

[DirtDawg]

I don't bite my molars because I really don't want to grind down my teeth, but I end up clenching my jaw muscles and giving myself earaches instead.

I don't want to grind down my molars either, but ...  (actually, my molars are in great shape - it is my lower fronts that are loosening up and will likely fail first - I've already had a four-quadrant gingivectomy and I have my teeth cleaned every three months, but there is always a build-up below the gumline at my lower fronts)

It's not a matter of "want to"  or not. It is an unconscious response to stress and sometimes it apparently happens in my sleep.

The alligatorclamping thing actually hurts like hell and often awakens me with a bleeding tongue or a chomped inner cheek. It is not a choice I make. It is an involuntary response.

That sounds painful.

Do you use an electric toothbrush or a regular one?

Both and a Waterpic and floss and an electric ultrasonic flosser and special nylon toothpicks and little gum brushes that fit between my teeth at the gumline.
 

I don't want to ever have my gums peeled back and my jawbones and the roots of my teeth scraped again.


Take care of your teeth people, BEFORE you develop any kind of periodontal illnesses.
The really bad thing was that the condition of my gums was affecting my entire immune system, before I discovered what was wrong.

Wow, that's impressive how well you take care of your teeth and gums now.

I use an electric toothbrush and I use ordinary floss almost every day.  I know I should floss every day but occasionally I forget to do it. 

I have one of those little gum brushes, but it only fits between two of my back teeth and it's a very tight fit there, so I don't use it very often.

I was wondering if you had some problem with your immune system that caused the gum problems in the first place.

I use an electric toothbrush several times a day and floss daily.  I also sometimes use gum-brushes, but I need the xxx-fine ones to get between my teeth, and they break after a couple of uses and are expensive, so I don't use them very often, but they're really effective when I do use them.

That's the size I use, but I don't re-use them. I treat them like toothpicks. One use and off the the trash.