vigorous, he says. i say zealous.
Posted: August 7, 2008 Filed under: Uncategorized 13 Comments »I stumble down the stairs, bleary-eyed after more than 30 minutes of nursing Beck to sleep. I lose track of time in that Chair of Exhaustitude. I tell myself I will get up and put him down in his crib after 15 minutes. I zone out or doze or go catatonic or something and next thing I know it’s been 35. Or three hours. There have been times I emerged from his room to find Wes getting ready for bed. Since then, Wes comes and retrieves me if it gets much past 8pm.
So I enter the living room where Wes is on the computer. I sit down next to him, knowing I should stay on my feet and head to the kitchen because the giant teenager needs to eat approximately every 20 minutes and if I don’t get started on dinner he will be underfoot making himself pre-dinner macaroni and cheese in the microwave or something. But I sit. Just for a minute.
"So I went to the dentist this morning," Wes tells me.
I sort of start to zone out, nodding, thinking about dinner. I start to get up and move to the kitchen.
"And I have apparently been brushing too vigorously."
"What?"
"She asked if I brush vigorously."
"Um."
"Other dentists have mentioned this before. But she said that I am actually damaging my gums. That they’re receding. She made me show her how I brushed."
"Show me."
"Well, I hold the brush in my fist…."
"Indeed, you do. You are a brushing zealot."
"She said I was supposed to hold it between my thumb and finger instead. And then she felt my arm muscle while I was brushing. Apparently it isn’t supposed to require quite so much muscle to brush."
"Wes. Wes, Wes, Wes."
"And the brush isn’t supposed to come away all smooshed."
"You had to learn how to brush your teeth. Someone had to teach you to brush your teeth at age thirty-something. See? You do things too zealously."
"What do you mean?"
"Cleaning?"
"Well, I don’t do the Heavy Cleaning Breathing when I brush my teeth."
"You might as well, Mr. Zealous TeethBrusher."
"So I have to practice this new way. And then once I am good at it I am supposed to get an electric toothbrush."
"I am going to get you one with Wall-E on it. They had some at Target. Battery-powered."
"No, I want a big boy toothbrush."
"Clearly you are not ready for one."
I say get the sonicare and then let it rest on your teeth as it moves over them. No pushing down at all and they get super clean.
My grandfather was a zealous brusher and in his old age he had such horse teeth and almost no gums at all and his teeth started moving all over and it was so sad. It was all from over brushing. I try to picture him in my head when I start to overbrush, which I do sometimes.
I also found the oral B stages 3 kids brush to be the best cleaning hand brush and small and soft bristles but it gets my teeth cleaner than any other hand toothbrush ever.
I know I give out such random tidbits, sorry.
I didn’t know one could over brush! I need to reassess how I brush my teeth and my children’s teeth.
Hysterical story!!
I tend to overbrush too. I come from a long line of overbrushers. Maybe they should factor this into one’s psychological profile?
the receding can also be genetic. I have it too – that’s why I had to have a gum graft in college. Tell Wes that they took skin from the roof of my mouth and sewed it onto my lower gums. That should get him to calm down with the brushing.
Melissa, I totally told Wes about the gum graft. Except I called it a gum transplant. For effect. Or because I forgot the right name. In any case, it was effective.
Meanmama, it makes perfect sense that you are also an overbrusher. Ha.
Bleu, thanks for the tidbits!
Poor, poor Wes.
I have brushed twice since the dentist and I was very good both times. But I can’t believe I’m actually getting my teeth clean. Weird.
I look forward to the coveting reviews on the most fancy toothbrushes. I am sure they make some in Sweden somewhere.
Um, I guess I need to learn, too. Because my toothbrushes are all smooshed, and my gums are receeding, too. I thought it was just part of getting old.
I’m married to an over zealous brusher. He’s had to have a gum graft – not much fun. We have a great electric Oral B toothbrush that actually flashes a warning if you brush too hard. Seems to be helping his gums as he has had good dental visits since we got it. I must admit I like the Oral B toothbrush thing as it comes with a display that shows a smiley face if you do a good job – such a sucker for those kind of gimmicks.
Guilty as well. I have been told I brush too hard. I just want to make sure that my teeth are clean and that they *Feel* clean. My hygienst told me he’d rather see me floss more and brush less. Yeah, that’s not happening. I’m working on not brushing as hard, but that’s difficult. I’m an “elbow-grease” kinda gal so trying to ease up on that takes a bit of willpower.
I wish Wes well. Let me know if he comes up with a good solution!
Sigh. Me, too. I agree with Wes–that gentle shit doesn’t feel…cleansing enough. My grandmother was a brusing zealot, and when I was a kid she used to yank my toothbrush out of my hand and brush my teeth for me if I got slack in her presence. She also taught me to use Listerine, which I still swish religiously (mint, though, not that awful gold-colored stuff) so I tend to operate under the belief that if my mouth isn’t sore it isn’t really clean.