"You're never fully dressed without a smile" from the Broadway play Annie
Hello Swarm Single Moms
If you are interested in saving money and looking your best, consider having your teeth cleaned.
Brushing and flossing are important steps in dental hygiene, but so too is a visit to your dentist who can help find clues about the health of your mouth and the overall health of your body.
You see, the mouth can reveal indicators about potential problems with your body and a good dentist can often be the gateway to your path for maintaining good health.
During a routine dental visit a good dentist may be able to uncover the following potential problems:
Upper respiratory disorders.
Viral infections in the lungs of suffers can produce lesions or sores inside their mouths.
Acid reflux and Hiatal Hernia.
Suffers who repeatedly burp bile into their mouths can experience eroded tooth enamel and a bitter taste in their mouths.
Diabetes.
Clues left in the mouth of diabetics include inflammation, infections, dry mouth, burning tongue, persistent gingivitis and multiple lesions. (Diabetics have special needs because some diabetic medication causes dry mouth and lack of saliva production which is known to cause cavities and gum disease.)
Kidney failure.
Dentists can also find evidence of kidney failure. Retarded tooth development in children, dry mouth, odor, metallic taste, ulcers on the tongues and gums in adults may lead the dentist to suggest a visit to a medical doctor to check for properly functioning kidneys.
Anemia.
Some of the earliest signs of anemia are oral, (including burning, fiery red tongue, inflamed mucous membrane and difficulty swallowing.
Osteoporosis.
Xrays of the mouth can reveal eroded and thinner jawbones which is a symptom of osteoporosis.
When you are seeking a new dentist, make sure they are members of the ADA (American Dental Association) and that they have experience as well as continued growth and study of new and important discoveries in the field of dentistry.
Do not allow for more than one or two separate x-rays per year. In fact, you should not need more than one x-ray every two years if your dental health has not been compromised. Too many x-rays can cause more harm than good! The dental office employees will often encourage more x-rays and tell you they are much safer than in the past. This is somewhat true, but studies continue to show that x-rays are still intrusive and should be kept to a minimum.
Swarm Single Moms - I am an advocate for helping our children grow into independent adults, but at the same time I do not advocate sending your children to medical/dental appointments alone. I have many reasons for this including the belief that there are too many scammers in the world who take advantage of the naive and ignorant. This applies to auto mechanics and electricians to doctors and dentists. When a customer is ignorant (read unknowledgeable) about specific areas that involve outside help to navigate, there is always going to be room for foul play. Most people are not scammers, however in the world of the single mom where time is money, money is tight and we are being pulled in so many directions, we need reminders that we must be physically and mentally present with regard to our children's health. If your work schedule makes this difficult to do, then use your vacation days. (I don't know why the medical profession is so slow to open on Saturdays). Take advantage of the days they are out of school for school holidays, make your appointments, then spend your scheduled time off to hang out with them. Show them by example the importance of making and keeping their health maintenance a priority!
Swarm Single Moms . . . our children need us to be their advocates which means sitting in the room with a health care provider to evaluate findings and determine the course of actions to take.
Two things happened in my life that reinforce this belief.
1) When my child was getting ready for braces, the first orthodontist we saw wanted to pull perfectly good adult teeth. Doing this would have made the ortho procedure easier for the orthodontist and my child would be without two adult healthy (near the front) teeth. Her smile would have been off, but her teeth would've been straight. UGH! Really??? You do not pull adult healthy teeth unnecessarily! EVER! This was my big clue that this ortho was not for us. We left and I found an orthodontist who was able to expand her palate and then put the braces on. Yes, it took about 4 months longer, but she HAS HER HEALTHY ADULT TEETH!!!
Perhaps this ortho wasn't really trying to take the easy way out. Perhaps they were just ignorant of all the possibilities, but whatever the reason, my gut told me to grab my child and walk out.
2) The second experience I want to share happened when I was a teen. My mom would come to the appointment with me, but she would sit in the front office and wait. I was a big chested teen and apparently, one with really bad teeth. (It seems in retrospect that I was always going to the dentist.) He was always finding a small cavity or replacing one that already existed. So much so that I ended up with 4 root canals in my mouth over three years. I did not eat sweets and because of the connection between pop and acne I did not even drink pop. Anyway what I am saying at this stage in my life is that all the dental work may have been unnecessary because once I stopped going to him, my dental problems disappeared. But the other story here is why I stopped going to him.
I mentioned that I was large chested and during the last visit instead of using his utensil tray to hold the tools, he used my chest. When he grabbed for the first tool and ended up touching my breast, my eyes popped and so did the eyes of his assistant. I made eye contact with her and she with me, both of us looking stunned. I stayed in the seat unsure of how to handle this and looking for some assistance from his assistant. I saw her look at him and he, Dr. Timothy Foley, ignored her and continued to work in my mouth - acting as if nothing happened. I waited and tried to figure out what to do if that should happen again. And it did. When he was done and collecting the tools his hands were all over my chest. I sat up letting the tools fall all over the ground and HE WAS AGITATED that I did that. Long story short. I never went back. I never told anyone and he may have continued to do this with others.
It took me years before I went to another dentist and I have since only gone to female dentists. Same for my child. All of our health care providers are women with the exception on my daughter's orthodontist and her pediatric cardiologist (the best in his field). It's my thing and I am not saying only choose female dentists. But this obviously affected me and the choices that I make. Of course I would like to prevent that from happening to my child and you and your child, too. Oddly enough, it has only been in the last few years that I remembered why I stopped going to Dr. Foley.
By the way, at least some of the work he did on my mouth may truly have been unnecessary and unfortunately once a tooth has been compromised it only goes downhill from there. That is why taking care of your teeth is so important.
The truth is . . . it is not about straight teeth. It is about taking care and having clean and sparkling teeth. A smile is your best accessory. It releases happy hormones, makes your eyes smile and shows the world that you are approachable. It may, over the years, increase the lines around your eyes and mouth, but never negatively nor to the degree that constant and continued frowning does.
Moral of the story. There are good and bad dentist out there. Find one you are comfortable with and who you think is good and working with your best interest in mind. Changing dentists, even if you have been going to them for years. . . is allowed. Do what is best for YOU (and your children)...
A Footnote
Always check your bills. Don't have your bills sent to the insurance provider without having duplicate bills sent to you. Ask your insurance provider to work with you to insure that they are being billed for services actually provided. I was just remembering a dentist we once had who billed us for services, x-rays - that I declined to have. The dental office did not think that was a big deal and tried to talk me out of having the fee declined because I would be getting the x-rays at some point in the near future anyway. But, this is a big deal because it is 1) fraud and 2) if you choose not to go back to this dentist your insurance will say that you already had the x-rays and will not pay for the ones you do have. This billing employee was let go because of this practice. A good dentist will get rid of bad employees, especially ones who try to cheat the system . . . happy brushing swarm single moms. :)
