Fluoride, Sweet Fluoride

By the end of March, I was very excited to be finally done with several weeks worth of dental work that I had endured for the sake of not being in terrible pain every time I drank anything colder than lukewarm water or chewed anything harder than soft bread. 

Three root canals and one filling later, I was finally done or at least that was what I had thought until the pain came back two weeks later. 

And it wasn't exactly as it had been, because now even lukewarm water was causing surges of pain through my face and being that I had tasted a lot little bit of dental adhesive every time I chewed basically anything for those couple weeks without pain, I assumed that maybe some of the adhesive had worn off, leaving crevices through which drinks were seeping directly into the middle of the tooth, triggering a reaction down into the gums and causing all this pain. So I messaged my dentist and made the soonest appointment I could. 

I went in about a week later and after a thorough X ray and exam, they told me that there were no new cavities. That was good because it meant that even if the teeth and fillings weren't exactly perfectly sealed together, they weren't separated enough to allow for further destruction...yet. I think since the cavities had been at the sides, between my teeth, the pain before was based on cold things hitting those places, whereas now there are holes through the tops of the teeth. While everything is filled, the enamel is still kinda weak and isn't working quite as it should.

The most reasonable thing they said to do about this is to add fluoride to my everyday dental maintenance. I was fairly annoyed in that I realized I should have been using International fluoride toothpaste this whole time. It probably would have been better for my own weak teeth from the get-go, but as I had decided to budget otherwise and buy the cheapest Japanese toothpaste available at my supermarket, it's no surprise that I haven't been using fluoride in ages. I was given some professional quality fluoride gel to apply after brushing with the caveat that I must wait for 20 minutes after applying the gel to then eat or drink anything, so the gel has a chance to actually sink into my teeth.

Thus begins my newest journey in dental health care. To my delight, after just two days of applying the stuff regularly, I was able to go out to eat with my in-laws and not be in so much pain that I could not finish a meal. Even the ice water at the table was not so bad that I was uncomfortable.

Chewing was easier than it had been before. So with that, I caution anybody else who is having dental trouble to seek assistance as quickly as you can from professionals. Because even in a situation where drilling through the teeth and repairing one problem may have caused another. The professionals are almost always the best ones to find an answer to fix whatever is currently wrong.