Germ Warfare!
By Pamelagrace Beatty
When was the last time you went to the dentist? Usually going to the dentist makes people nervous and since sheltering in place, many have not gone. So, I laughed when my friend told me that her dentist told her she had a cavity. She is very meticulous about brushing and flossing but apparently, she missed a spot? Her dentist said a number of his patients were coming in with cavities. Working from home, minimum social contact and irregular schedules were throwing people off of their usual routines. Getting up at a certain time every morning, washing your face, brushing your teeth and getting dressed to go to work, or school or wherever, was no longer happening. Add to that being retired where those usual routines have probably changed drastically. No wonder people are getting more cavities.
We are not as scrupulous with our habits. I certainly am not since the quarantine. I give myself credit for at least getting out of bed and into my sweats. When I first started doing Zoom calls, I was dressed, had on make-up and earrings. My hair was styled. You would have thought I was going downtown to an office. The Zoom participants commented on how nice I looked. That was six months ago. Now I put on the bare minimum of make-up. I wear easy, comfortable clothing. I start with a nice sweater on top, and then my favorite sweatpants or the warm fuzzy pajama pants that my colleagues on Zoom can’t see unless I make the mistake of leaving the camera on as I get up to get tea or water. I loved the rant I read in the paper one Sunday where someone said, “Please put on pants when you go pick up the mail!” I don’t know what the person picking up his mail was wearing, but evidently, it wasn’t enough. And by the way, I still brush my teeth before breakfast.
The dentists say we should brush and floss twice a day. One article I read said we should brush our teeth for two minutes. I timed that. I have never, in my life, brushed my teeth for two minutes. If it’s that important it’s a wonder I have teeth! But just to be safe, I have started doing that. I wander around while I’m brushing and do things like hang up the clothes I threw in the chair, or get the bed ready to climb into or out of, or turn out the lights in the house. I simply can’t stand in front of the bathroom mirror and brush my teeth for an eternity of two minutes. I just can’t do it! The dentists also say use an antiseptic mouthwash because it reduces the amount of acid in the mouth, cleans hard-to-brush areas in and around the gums, and re-mineralizes the teeth. I also go do stuff while I rinse with a mouthwash. Same problem. The mouthwash needs to stay in the mouth for a while to kill the bacteria. I haven’t timed how long I do that. I figure when it stops stinging, I can spit it out.
This isn’t all about keeping our teeth all nice and pretty though. Bacteria in the mouth can make you quite sick and even cause death. If you have an overgrowth of bacteria in your mouth, it’s possible to inhale that bacteria into your lungs and potentially cause pneumonia. I was surprised when I read this. I thought we catch pneumonia like a cold. I didn’t know we could cause ourselves to have it!
There are lots of bacteria in the mouth. Some of it is good for us, maybe most of it. Some of the bacteria can cause all kinds of havoc according to Jan Ptempa, PhD, DSc in an article in EurekAlert.org, April 7, 2019. Imagine bacteria forming a guerilla group and going rogue in your system with the intent to do all the damage it can? According to the research Dr. Ptempa has done, one such bacteria, Porphyromonas gingivalis is being linked to pneumonia, rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, hepatitis and esophageal cancer. Great. That’s all we need is one more thing to worry about re: our health. My dentist tried to get me to understand why simply brushing and flossing wasn’t enough and coming in for regular cleanings was important. Like many people I don’t wake up in the morning and say, “Oh yay! I get to go to the dentist today!” It’s not that I don’t like my dentist. I think he’s swell. All I can think about is all the strange stuff they will do in my mouth, even though this dentist is good and relatively painless. Still, I don’t look forward to going. Well, he told me about the bad bacteria in my mouth. How it forms little colonies down in the gums where my flossing can’t get to in some cases. So, there’s an encampment of bad bacteria in my mouth that only the hygienist can get at. Great. But wait, there’s more. This colony recruits other bacteria to come join it. Seriously? I’ve got guerilla warfare going on in my mouth all the time. That was supposed to help me want to go to the dentist. It did help me understand how important it was to continue to brush and floss and fight off what I can. And yes, I do get my teeth cleaned twice a year but I still don’t like going to the dentist.
As result of being way too knowledgeable about what’s going on in my mouth, I am more disciplined about brushing and flossing. I still wear my favorite fuzzy pajama pants to Zoom meetings (they are more comfortable, especially when you have to sit for hours) but never to the grocery store. We have to draw the line somewhere!!
