Dear Dr. T,
I was just going through the queries and your
answers and I thought I had to ask this.
I am usually very careful
about my teeth. I have got beautiful choppers and obviously I would
like to have them for as long as I can.
I used to brush twice a day,
scrap my tongue twice and also used a mouthwash. I have never had
cavities or any tooth related problems and I am 28.
The problem began
when I started having those wisdom teeth. They don't pain much but
they seem to be taking their sweet time in coming out completely.
Every month or two they seemed to try to push themselves and when it
happened my gums turned all sore and I would bleed while brushing. I
also do oil pulling occasionally with coconut oil and few drops of
clove oil. But the bleeding scared the hell out of me.
It's then
that I started flossing. Even now I have not mastered the art of
flossing and I find it very difficult to reach the last eight.
I usually do a warm saline water mouth rinse after supper and then
floss followed by brushing, tongue scrapping and Listerine. The
bleeding has stopped but I am still confused with the order of my
routine.
Please suggest the best way. I really love my teeth.
Regards,
Smita
Dear Smita,
From one tooth lover to another - it was great to hear from
you!
Thanks for writing and sharing what you do for your
personal dental care! Unlike you, there are people who have good
teeth and no cavities but wind up losing teeth to gum disease because
they don't do regular dental care.
In order to speak to your
question we have to agree that there will never be any one way to do
things as complex as dental care, so let's focus on what's seems to
be your current significant dental issue - your emerging wisdom
teeth.
Since you mentioned that you're 28, the wisdom teeth
are a bit late, but not something so unusual by itself. The age range
for their eruption runs between 16 & 30. Some wisdom teeth never
emerge.
The gum irritation or inflammation you describe is not
uncommon as wisdom teeth erupt and is an important factor affecting
how you should currently care for your mouth.
Wisdom teeth are
not my specialty, so I shared your question with Dr Jay W. Friedman,
DDS, MPH who's had a long career in clinical dentistry and written a
very important
article
on the unnecessary removal of wisdom teeth.
Dr. Jay W. Friedman, DDS, MPH
In
his reply, Dr. Friedman commented that if you have persistent or
periodic pain around an emerging wisdom tooth, with or without
bleeding, it might be justifiably removed. Of course this is
something you have to discuss with your dentist who will have x-rays
of the teeth to help make a decision. Dr. Friedman also noted that if
the teeth can erupt or have erupted, sometimes all that is necessary
is to remove the gum tissue around the tooth rather than the tooth
itself (called a operculectomy). Be sure to ask your dentist about
this option!
Best of luck with your “growing pains.” I'm
sure you'll return to “Peace of Mouth” after a little time.
One
other matter for your consideration is something Dr Friedman points
out in his excellent book,
Complete
Guide to Dental Health, - too frequent use of
Listerine or other antibiotics can upset the natural balance of
organisms in the mouth. When the balance gets upset, a normal
resident can bloom, causing over growths that produce mouth problems.
Please keep this in mind when your possibly infected wisdom teeth
aren't an issue. Dr Friedman says the warm salt water that you're already using is probably the
best and cheapest mouthwash.
Let's close by saying something
about floss - I'm sure you'll get good at flossing once your new
teeth have settled in and given you a chance to practice!
Floss
on!
Dr. T
http://thetoothsayer.com/waterpik-vs-flossing/
