If my dentist had had his way I’d be wearing a mouth guard every night for the rest of my life.
Think about that for a second : A large piece of plastic. In your mouth. Every night. For the rest of your life.
That’s at least 14600 nights if you live for another 40 years. And all for having a problem that any one of us could have and a lot of us do have.
Now I know there are far worse things that can happen but its still kinda scary that I came so close to following his advice.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not ‘anti-dentist’. They are extremely talented health care professionals who perform an essential and valuable service. One that is often under-appreciated and unloved.
My dentist is highly skilled and has absolutely saved me from a lot of pain. I am grateful and plan to continue visiting his practice every 6 months. That is one piece of advice I do completely agree with and recommend.
So what has this got to do with you? When shouldn’t you listen to your dentist?
Well the short version is basically this. I was grinding my teeth at night (a common problem that 10% of us have). I’d managed to grind away half of one of my back teeth.
We tried to save the tooth but despite 6 visits to the dentists chair and spending over $2500 it couldn’t be done.
Not wanting to repeat the experience, I asked what could be done. My dentist replied that I could come in again and get a mouth guard fitted. Which I would then probably wear for the rest of my life.
I trust, like and respect my dentist, so I almost agreed on the spot. Something held me back however and I deferred my decision. Then I did some research. After a while I discovered there are lot of treatment alternatives.
Some of which stop grinding permanently. I applied one of them and I’m happy to say it worked.
So the message here is twofold.
Firstly don’t enter into a big commitment without investigating the alternatives. Simple advice, and obvious. But you’d be surprised how many of us forget to, especially after consulting an expert in a field we know nothing about like dentistry.
Secondly if you think you are grinding your teeth, do something. Or you may end up $2500 and one tooth poorer like me.
