Good Teeth

I’ve always had good teeth. 

Not a perfect smile, but perfectly functional teeth. I’ve never had “American White” teeth, but they aren’t heavily stained either. I’ve also never had expensive or painful interventions, I’ve literally just brushed and flossed regularly all my life. 

I feel like I’m lucky that dental health never slipped in priority, even when my parents were struggling for money. They made sure to keep paying for health and dental insurance so we could have regular check ups at the dentist and hygienist. My parents never even thought twice, it seemed, should we need to get a cavity filled or our wisdom teeth pulled. And they made sure that dental appointments were approached as commonly as going to the grocery store. 

I thought this was normal. 

However, I only learned much later in life that a lot of people have a fear of going to the dentist. Even the hygienist. I learned that this was largely based on negative childhood experiences regarding their teeth. I had come across a book once (I wish I had made a note of the title and author, but alas….) that listed the all the reasons for this, and it appeared to be variations of:

• Parents had little to no money for emergencies, so if a tooth problem arose the treatment would be delayed leading to uncontrollable pain. So by the time they DID see a dentist for an intervention, the pain would reach even new heights.

• Often, people would be shamed by dentists and hygienists because of poor dental hygiene practices, long gaps between appointments, and/or delayed treatment of emergencies. Of course this would cause anxiety later on.

• People have been pressured into dental treatments and hygiene products that weren’t affordable at the time. But you want to do as you’re told by the dentist so you’re not shamed in future appointments, right? 

I was lucky enough to have had, not only parents who sacrificed a lot so that I could have adequate dental care, but also a kind and compassionate Dental team as a child. Even as a teenager or young adult I never experienced that “You didn't brush or floss enough” shame that I would come to learn about later. 

This created an environment where I trusted my Dentist, was never afraid of pain, and never felt like I had procedures pushed on me. My parents went to the same dental practice and had so much confidence in the team they let me go by myself, at 16, for dental surgery to remove all my 4 wisdom teeth at once. No general anesthetic, just “Off you go, I’ll pick you up in a few hours.”

The lack of shame surrounding my dental care created an environment where I didn’t try to avoid appointments due to fear or anxiety. This prevented any major emergencies from happening at this time. 

My first real dental emergency occurred shortly after moving to the UK in 2012: I was eating a granola bar, as you do, and the tooth around my filling in my back right tooth cracked and broke. I hadn’t been in the UK long enough to consider finding a dentist, but I was panicking because I had never been without a dentist before. No one could even tell me what the process of registering with a dentist was like either, and when I finally found a dentist that was taking patients I had to make the choice between being a private or NHS patient. 

I didn’t really understand the choice, except that I could be seen as a private patient the next day as opposed to 6 months as an NHS patient. Even though I had very little money at the time, I had the same mindset my parents had as I was growing up, that your health is priceless and the most precious asset you’ll ever have, so look after it no matter the cost. I registered as a private patient, naturally. In the end, it wasn’t even as expensive as I thought: dental repair in Canada was expensive, even with Dental Insurance. 

The dentist I saw in Bordon was impressed with the quality of filling I had. I wasn’t surprised, my Dentist in Canada was excellent as well as kind. It was a shame that her new filling was not of the same quality: it had one really sharp side that had cut into my cheek for months. 

Until 2017, dental appointments were sketchy at best due to finances, even though dental costs were overall cheaper than in Canada. After I broke up with my ex, I made an effort to see a dentist regularly again, as an effort to re-prioritize my health. But that quickly crumbled when my mom got sick. It wasn’t until 2020 that I made the same effort to re-prioritize my dental again. 

The appointment in 2020 revealed that my teeth hadn’t really deteriorated. Goes to show what regular brushing can do. But then, in equal measure, I was scolded for not flossing enough and for not using an electric toothbrush. 

I kicked back because I am not a child and my teeth were fine. So I politely informed the dentist that if brushing manually has served me for 34 years (at that point), it would be good for another 34 years. Further, electric toothbrushes are a hassle if you travel a lot: they’re expensive, you have to deal with cables, you need a manual toothbrush anyway if your battery doesn’t charge, and to find the correct replacement heads were not easy from one country to another. 

If you have a manual toothbrush you will literally never be in those situations. Even if you run out of toothpaste, brushing manually is effective. 

It took me nearly 2 years to see a dentist again after that. I made a point of it over this summer past as a bid to start becoming the organized adult I had been previously instead of wallowing in various miseries. I went back to the same dental practice, but I had a different dentist. By her assessment, my teeth had improved since my previous appointment: the only thing I had changed was that I flossed more regularly. 

I felt smug, naturally. 

There must have been a note in my file regarding my previous conversation regarding electric toothbrushes because it was mentioned only briefly. Instead, mouthwash was apparently a big no-no as it washes fluoride away that toothpaste leaves behind after brushing. 

I didn’t think it was the appropriate moment to mention that I brush with fluoride free toothpaste…

After my gold star from the dental practice I was on my way to London to fly to Morocco. The drive is around 5 hours long, give or take an hour for traffic at either end of the journey. Naturally I’m going to have a snack to hand. 

Or several. 

My snack of choice are Squashies. There’s something addictive and delicious about their completely processed and fake flavours, their gelatinous, chewing gum texture. And with full confidence, I was chewing through a whole bag, with the knowledge that my teeth were in good shape. 

All of a sudden, instead of chewing just rubber, there was some kind of grit between my teeth. I spat out the Squashie and then I had a sudden awareness that something had changed with my back molar. At the nearest service station I pulled over and inspected my tooth in the rearview mirror: sure enough, the same tooth that had cracked around its filling 10 years ago had cracked again. 

I looked at the bag of Squashies for a minute and then back at my broken tooth. 

W. T. F. 

How. 

Having a Squashie break a tooth seemed really impossible. I was the definition of flabbergasted. 

A few months on, I still haven’t fixed my tooth. 

The timing of my travelling just hasn’t allowed for it, but I also didn’t feel any urgency to get it sorted because it’s not causing me any pain. 

Dangerous territory, I know. 

It’s my intention to see a dentist when I get back to Morocco, but I would also be OK to let it go until I get back to the UK. Continuity of care and all that. 

From an adulting perspective, it feels like 1 step forward and 2 steps back. But life happens, and these are one of the challenges of a nomad.