my teeth

[low_delta]

I used to have great teeth. When I was young, they were straight and strong. When I was a teenager, I stopped taking care of them. I wish I had understood the consequences. After several years without seeing a dentist, I was pleased to have only one cavity, but the damage seems to have been done. I take care of them now, but about every year since then, I have to have another cavity filled. My teeth turned yellow, but they are still straight, and still seem strong - or did until today.

This afternoon, I broke a tooth. I bit into a cookie and there was pain (chocolate chip - refrigerated). I quickly got the food out of my mouth - swallowed it - and then realized there was a rough edge in there. It looks like the side of a molar gave way. It exposed the side of the filling. It doesn't hurt, but there's a slight ache that's started in my jaw, so I think it will. I'll call the dentist first thing in the morning.

So what's up with teeth? Why don't they last as long as we do? Intelligent Design, my ass.

Comments

[penpusher.livejournal.com]

I'll give this a (novocaine) shot! Hehe. Bad Dental Humor. Sorry.

Our teeth are designed to eat the foods we SHOULD eat. Leafy vegetables, the occasional cooked meats that are caught. Refrigerated chocolate chip cookies were not in existance when we were designed!

Then again, some of us have different mouth chemistries. I rarely have tooth problems and must deal with gum issues, which I guess are worse, since you lose your teeth if you don't have gums!

Hope everything is ok, and that's the tooth!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Refrigerated chocolate chip cookies were not in existance when we were designed!

True, but it still seems that my teeth are in better shape than a lot of people's. My mom's been breaking teeth as long as I've known her (fortunately, my teeth have my dad's genes). And a lot of people eat a lot more sugar than I do, and I still get cavities.

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

Alice Cooper lyrics..."He said my teeth are ok but my gums gotta go!"

I wonder if he'll get an appointment at 2:30 (tooth-hurty).

[sunshine-two.livejournal.com]

Start using arm n' hammer teeth whitening toothpaste. If that doesn't get rid of the stain, get your teeth cleaned and bleached at your dentist. Your smile is the first thing a lot of people notice.

Just sayin.

[ravengirl.livejournal.com]

i hear you. i had perfect white teeth, no braces, no cavities,
and then i hit 21. came home with 7 cavities! i couldn't believe it.
"soft" teeth run in my mom's family but nobody bothered to tell me
until that afternoon. there's only so much i can do as my teeth
degrade with time and absorb color like crazy- tea, for instance.
every freakin' time i get my teeth cleaned, the hygenist tells me
to stop eating berries and drinking tea and i say, "okay" because
i got sick of explaining my teeth long ago. the dentist understands,
at least.

all of those beautiful smiles in my mom's family? DENTURES!
my younger brother got dentures in his early twenties. i'm doomed.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I think my good teeth come from my dad's dad's side. His mother had dentures.

[shoo.livejournal.com]

I have so many crowns from broken teeth. It started just a few years after I got married. Turns out, I clinch my teeth at night which causes stress fractures on weak or already filled teeth.
It's too late to really do anything about it now...but I was told that a mouth guard would help.

I had my teeth bleached at the dentist because he told me they were yellow...

I can blind ya in the dark with these bad boys now.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

*shields eyes*

Wow, what great teeth!

[roadskoller.livejournal.com]

And now that's all you do is feel the rough spot with your tongue and get it roughed up.
I hate when that happens.
As you know, our family always took care of our teeth, and we're going through the same thing. It's called "getting on in years".
Love,
almost toothless

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Fortunately, it's just rough and not sharp. It sure is distracting, though.

[zaecus.livejournal.com]

I got the short end of the genetic stick with my teeth. Them going early was a foregone conclusion, and only the fact that I didn't take care of them made them last as long as they did. Guess that needs a short explanation...

Thanks to my mother's genetics, I have weak tooth enamel. Brushing removes it. Thatnks to my father's genetics, my roots are susceptible to infection, pulling the bacteria up inside the tooth once it gets to the root. If I'd had a good dental hygiene program, I would have removed the enamel down to the gum line, allowing the bacteria easy access to the roots.

However, the reason our teeth don't last as long as they should in general is two-fold; processed sugar and acid. Processed sugar is candy to the bacteria in our mouths and acid is death to enamel. Avid is also tasty, so modern foods and beverages are a lot more acidic than anything we would likely find in abundance in nature, certainly nothing we're likely to find available year round and with a lot of natural sugar in it.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Sounds like *everyone* should be having this problem, then.

So do you still have teeth?

[zaecus.livejournal.com]

Basically, everyone is having this problem. Of course, those who can brush the recommended amount with the recommended methods should be able to fight off the effects.

Depending on the conditions at the time, the answer to whether or not I still have teeth ranges from barely to no. So far today, it's barely.

go get that taken care of!

[philrancid.livejournal.com]

Actually, had you read your bible thoroughly, you would know that God is a Dentist, and you lack of proper care in certain departments has called down The Wrath.

But seriously. Take care of that ASAP--you don't want to know what it's like to sit up all night panting because your head hurts like a mad bitch. Also? Anbesol. Get some. You gotta hole in your teefies, that shit goes right in and makes the pain take a break for a bit.

I used it when the agony of waiting for the dental clinic was too much, and I wound up breaking off one of my wisdoms with a multitool. (and that in and of itself brought relief--although being able to shoot gel-based novocaine in the hole was the best)

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

It ended up not hurting, fortunately. Not until the dentist started grinding away at it. Now I've got a continual ache in my jaw. I sure am glad I never had to go through that. I'm a little worried about the possibility of having my wisdom teeth out, though.

[heartwork.livejournal.com]

mine are "giving out" like old bones.

[emschin.livejournal.com]

We had good dental care as children, and also drank from a naturally fluoridated well for years. My older sisters who drank from it longer got yellow stains on their teeth. I got all the benefit without the brown. Pure luck.

As for teeth lasting as long as the "rest of the body", other things go too. Hair grays and comes out. Skin wrinkles. Eyes need glasses or grow cataracts. But I agree, a broken tooth is no fun.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Good point about the eyes. But hair isn't essential, and wrinkles don't compromise the organ. The heart seems to give out a lot too.

[banana.livejournal.com]

I'd say that evolution has given us teeth that last long enough, but we've recently started living longer. For almost all of the genetic history of humans you'd be dead by now.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

That's what I was thinking, the other day. And that's what led me to decide taht the Intelligent Design theory wasn't any good. Either that or "The Creator" still doesn't intend for us to live this long.