PSA

Ok, yeah, yeah, I've let over two weeks elapse AGAIN between postings here on my poor, sad, neglected little personal blog. My other blog for milwaukeemoms.com has been the recipient of the lion's share of my creative juices lately, but it's paying off...I've been invited to appear on a local morning show here in Milwaukee this coming Friday to promote my blog a bit more and talk about some of the topics I have discussed on there. My biggest crisis about the whole thing is that I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO WEAR!

But that is not why I am here today. I am here today to tell you all one very important thing: It really IS essential that you floss. You're welcome.

I am not a fan of going to the dentist. I think I have discussed this here before, but just the thought of some masked person all up in my business and wielding needles, drills, and other scary pointy things makes me feel sick to my stomach. I just don't like people getting too close to my face and when you add that to the vulnerable feeling of lying flat while someone is working on my teeth above me, it's enough to make me not go to the dentist for a long time. In fact, since my most recent cleaning, I think it had probably been about five years since I had been to the dentist for a regular ol' checkup.

But OH! I would go in to see my friendly neighborhood dentist if something major happened, like a tooth breaking or major throbbing toothaches. And I took such good care of my teeth that why should I need to go in every six months for a cleaning? Why indeed?? Well, this is why...when I went in for my most recent cleaning, about a month ago, I had SEVEN cavities. Not one, not two, not five. SEVEN. So, over a series of four appointments, I have to get them all fixed, and without the benefit of nitrous oxide to get me through. (Ok, yeah, I could have done sedation dentistry and had all seven cavities filled at once while relaxing in a drug-induced stupor, but I'm both too cheap and too stupid to shell out the several hundred dollars for the procedure.) Oh yeah, and two of the cavities were so bad that they might still potentially need root canals. *shudder*

Here's the thing. I don't floss. I brush my teeth really, really well but I just don't floss. And my dentist, in his nice, friendly, non-pressuring way while he's elbow-deep in my mouth, has reminded me about eight thousand times that had I flossed, none of this decay would have taken place--all of my cavities are between teeth.

So, let my pain serve as a lesson to you. Floss, people. Do it. Last night as I was getting my third injection of anesthetic to numb my teeth, and after I went home so numb that I chewed the inside of my cheek till it bled, I wished that I had listened to my dentist all these years. Again, you're welcome.