By I brush at least twice a day and floss every day. I see my dentist regularly and never neglect my dentition. My husband on the other hand is not so good at this stuff. He doesn’t want to go to my dentist (even though my dentist gives the best numbing shots west of the Mississippi and I am TERRIFIED of needles in my gums).
He would rather go to his childhood dentist although he still doesn’t make appointments as needed. He brushes yes, flosses occasionally, but overall he is not the poster child for 1-800-DENTIST. He, however, has very nice teeth. White, straight, healthy gums.
Here’s where genetics and luck come in. Many times when I go to the dentist, I think everything is fine. Nothing hurts, nothing is sensitive to temperature, nothing bothers me. Then my dentist goes around poking and says, “Oh, we need to replace this filling or that filling.” Gwar!!! I hate it!
My husband, on the other hand, actually had a toothache not that long ago. Neener, neener, neener, I mocked and chanted at him. Finally! Justice! You have a cavity! You have neglected your teeth and they are punishing you in return! HA! (Not the most mature, but I felt that finally the dentition gods had recognized his FTF: failure to floss.)
So my beloved makes an appointment, goes to the dentist, and they do the whole she-bang. X-rays, poking around, looking, inspecting, etc. They find nothing! You know what the dentist says? “Looks like you pulled a tendon near your tooth.” He gets a pat on the back and he’s out on his merry way. No shots, no filling, no cavity.
The dentition gods hate me.
