Pearly Whites

[Brett's Honey]

QUOTE=Brett's Honey]...However, I will am also planning on whitening my teeth and I have no doubt at all that the procedure will lead to a "procedure of the month" for me. I won't desire a facelift, lipo, boob job!

OOPS!! I just noticed that I left out the word NOT in my last post....as in whitening my teeth WILL NOT lead to a procedure of the month! Big difference there!

[mrnoodle]

My grandmother, God rest her soul, was allergic to toothpaste - it made her mouth break out in a rash every time. So she used baking soda and salt to brush her teeth. I never knew her to have a cavity, either.

[wolf]

I had a stretch of about (insert length of time too embarrasing to note here, although I probably posted it somewhere else) years where I didn't go to the dentist.

At all.

I broke a tooth and HAD to go see him a couple years ago. He thought that over that time I'd just gone to another dentist.

While he had me trapped in the chair, he did an exam, xrays, and cleaning ... I had two cavities.

Two.

Since then he has made a point of scheduling me 6 months in advance ... he knows that if it's on my calendar, I'll show up.

[LabRat]

One of my best friends uses the Tom's stuff, and her teeth look great, but her breath is often quite sour. Dunno if her constant coffee drinking has anything to do with that. I feel like I have bad breath whenever I drink it (which is very rarely). I tried Tom's, and just didn't like it at all. Original Crest Reg Paste is about the only thing I can stand. Don't even like gel. Might have to try the vanilla stuff tho, in a small tube...

[LabRat]

Wolf, probably more people don't regularly go than do! My husband hasn't been to the dentist since I can remember. Seriously. For awhile, between jobs, he didn't have insurance, and once he got it, just never went back. The fronts of his teeth look great, whiter than mine even (prebleach ). But the tongue side is pretty gross. It's been so long that now he just doesn't want to go because he knows there will be A LOT of scraping, and he's a self proclaimed wuss when it comes to Doctors.

[wolf]

My dentist abandoned the old fashioned scraping thing years ago ... he uses an "ultrasonic scaler" which is a high speed mechanical version of the same thing. You can feel the plaque flying off your teeth, which is either really gross or pretty cool depending on your perspective. The old hour of scraping is replaced by 5 minutes of high pitched whining noises, and the inevitable pain is considerably reduced.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by wolf

Anybody else get an uncontrollable urge to retch when they first start brushing sometimes?

Every time. For some reason it's significantly worse in the mornings. Sometimes I can just gag a few times and continue, but usually I have to wait until later in the morning and just brush my teeth at work.

[Trilby]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Every time. For some reason it's significantly worse in the mornings. Sometimes I can just gag a few times and continue, but usually I have to wait until later in the morning and just brush my teeth at work.

I can cure that. Just quit drinking before 9pm! On a more serious note, I had the ultrasonic whitening done and I'm glad I did. Took 10 years off--ok, maybe five. Anyway, I'm a BIG coffee drinker so there was that. And it was painless...except for the pocketbook.

[wolf]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Every time. For some reason it's significantly worse in the mornings. Sometimes I can just gag a few times and continue, but usually I have to wait until later in the morning and just brush my teeth at work.

Oh thank goodness, it's not just me. I actually have one other friend that this happens to as well, but it's good to hear that I'm not that freaky.

This mainly occurs with mint flavored toothpastes for me. It's not the mint by itself, as I like mint in other contexts.

[LabRat]

I'll call around to local dentists and see if any have this new untrasonic scaler thingie. Definately sounds worth checking out. Thanks for the info.

[BigV]

I read something interesting the other day regarding how the flavor "mint" works. The way I understood it was that the chemical action going on was to *block* the receptors for bitter in your mouth, and the resulting combination equalled mint! So, the four detectable tastes, sweet, sour, bitter, and salty, minus bitter (in some Proctor and Gamble proportions) equals mint...

Either that or I'm all messed up.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by wolf

This mainly occurs with mint flavored toothpastes for me. It's not the mint by itself, as I like mint in other contexts.

It had never occurred to me that it might be the flavor of the toothpaste causing it. I've never used any toothpaste except standard Crest mint flavor--well, except that one time I tried their nasty "Orange" flavor. That tube got tossed in the garbage after one use.

[OnyxCougar]

They sell a 4 mini tube pack of different flavors of toothpaste that I'm going to buy tomorrow. You know, be spontaneous and outrageous.

[jaguar]

This thread is about anyones experience WHITENING YOUR TEETH. Not why I am, or how the f*ck I'll feel afterward.

This is cellar, what were you expecting, things to stay on topic? Curse and a blessing. I use the colgate total whitening toothpaste, largely because half the time the supermarket is out of the plain old total and it does seem to work, considering my coffee intake. Wouldn't pay for proper whitening though. Catwoman deserves a cookie.

[Catwoman]

I can't have cookies anymore my boss will find out what I've been doing instead of working.