Dental Visit

I haven't paid my dentist a visit for 3 years, so I decided to stop by for a checkup.

I told her my tooth aches when I bite down hard. She looks at my x-ray and spots my wisdom tooth on a slant, adjacent to my other tooth. So if I bite down on the adjacent tooth, my wisdom tooth pushes my gums, causing a lot of pain.

After that, I told her that my gums bleed when I brush my teeth. At first, she said not to brush so vigorously and that I need to come in for a cleaning every 6 months. She said my gums were very unhealthy. You know when your gums are bad when they swell up into a bubble and it's red instead of the regular pink color. I had two cavities and ended up getting two fillings.

After they finished with my cleaning, I was told to brush day and night, floss every one or two days, use a tongue scraper, and rinse with mouthwash 30 minutes after brushing. The only treatment I provided my teeth was a brush a day, floss when something big is stuck in between, and mouthwash when I have a canker sore.

Do you go through all these everyday procedures to ensure good dental hygiene?