Who sees a Hygienist?
Smile is free, but it will come with a cost of ego if I don’t visit my hygienist
Terrie000
Many people needs to see a hygienist, including myself, do you?
Dentists generally recommend seeing a hygienist at least twice a year to remove the plaque in our mouth. The danger of leaving it without care is the risk of plaque hardening into tartar, which will eat into tooth enamel and infect the gums. That’s basically the reason why all of us should see a hygienist.
My Story with my Hygienist
It all started back in around 15 years ago or so, with a dentist recommendation to my parents. When my parents became more informed, they started to take me and my brother to see a hygienist as well. It wasn’t until about 10 years ago when I established myself as a patient of a clinic in town, that I get to know my personal hygienist, where I have built a friendly relationship with her throughout the years.
Initially, I only went annually because, really, who wants to get have metal chopsticks poking and plastic faucet showering their mouth, and sometimes water can get excited and jump onto other parts of my face – in short, a day in the hygienist’s room was not something I looked forward to.
It didn’t take long for my personal hygienist noticed the black stains in my teeth were somewhat… prevalent, and she suggested me to come in twice a year. With hesitation, I agreed.
As a slippery slope, I was then advised to visit 4x a year due to my heavy stain. And don’t get it wrong, she was giving me her honest advice and tried to help me figure this out. While it is a bit embarrassing to admit, she asked me to show her how I brush my teeth (not exactly the right way the way I did it), the duration (my time was shorter), and whether I have other lifestyle habits that may contribute to the staining such as chewing tobacco or drinking soda (NA for me).
Anyway, I did the quarterly visit for a few years and incorporated the brush twice daily, flossing, and using a mouth wash to my daily routine habit. My stain problem got better, but I still have trouble with the corners because I usually miss those spots while brushing. Today, during my visit, she again gives me another helpful advice for that – to start brushing from the corners first as I will more likely to spend more time brushing on those areas if I start there first. That’s such a simple idea! It doesn’t hurt to try, so I’ll give it a try! Her other advice is to dip the toothbrush in baking soda (diluted in water) and then just brush the corners with it. I looked it up on google and it says don’t brush longer than 2 minutes with baking soda (I don’t plan to brush that long anyway, no problem), and seems like it has whitening effect to the teeth.
The Experience & the Lesson
Well, that story was kind of a slow progress of establishing a relationship with my hygienist. The experience also improved significantly since my teeth have less stain, because I won’t need a full hour in the room anymore. I can now get in and get out in less than 45 minutes.
Sometimes laying on the chair, looking up at the lights (see picture below), with the constant background noise of water flushing through the teeth, metal poking in the gums, it gets kind of easy to “zone out” for a moment. So why don’t use this time where you can’t do anything to reflect and contemplate about things? That will make the time past faster and you are being productive.
A day in the hygienist’s room is no longer a day that I dread about. I am not going to lie and say I totally looking forward to it either. I do have to say though, if there’s one lesson that I can get out of this relationship (or any in relationships in general), is: go with your own pace, cooperate and work with the other person, take their advises/feedback and give it a try – you don’t have to make it into your habit if you absolutely hates it, and after maybe 10 years of slow transformation, you may realize you’ve gone farther than you ever thought you would be.
What is your hygienist story? A dentist story? Or maybe… an epic story where you build a better relationship with someone over time that may not looked so smooth in the beginning?
Terrie's Blog 