Unfiltered Story #239417

This is more of a PSA than a story… I grew up with zero cavities or any dental problems aside from the usual braces and wisdom teeth removal. As such, when I go off to graduate school and don’t have dental insurance, I figure I can lapse seeing the dentist and continue taking equally good care of my teeth (normal twice a day brushing, flossing when I remember to).

Fast forward two years later. I have a sudden and sharp temperature sensitivity in my tooth. I decide to go see the dentist despite not having insurance, thinking maybe I’ve finally gotten my first cavity. By the end of the appointment, she told me I needed 2 root canals, and had 7 cavities.

I was floored, considering nothing had changed about my dental hygiene. Turns out, the city I grew up in put fluoride in the water, a tooth-strengthener, but the town I had moved to did not. I had additionally turned 21, the beer scene in graduate school was lively, and I hadn’t put 2 and 2 together regarding the extra sugar (yes yes I know). I was also told there could be a genetic component to tooth decay, and my dad has fairly bad (soft) teeth in his older age.

I was lucky enough that they offered me a discount considering all the work I had to get done, but I was still about $3000 out of pocket by the end of it all. I was prescribed a fluoride toothpaste and told to floss every night, which I now do with gusto. I have since moved back to a city with fluoride and follow procedure exactly, especially after beer and food, and have had no more trouble. Still, my friends now say that I have “marshmallow teeth”: pretty and white, but soft and full of sugar. I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not.