The road to hell is paved with good intentions

I’d like to preface this story by being straightforward, I think being a dentist is a terrible job. Your reward for going through years of elite schooling requirements is the honour of looking into gross, sometimes rotten teeth... all day, everyday. 

Therefore, it makes sense that I believe most dentists have fully encompassed our capitalistic society and started charging for as many services as they can. The last time I went to the dentist, they said that my teeth were great, but that I should also get 4 preventative fillings. I understand the point of fillings and their necessary role in restorative dentistry to prevent some really nasty bacterial infections. Any sort of infection near the brain is a recipe for disaster, and in some cases it can cause an extremely painful death. What I don’t understand is the rise in  preventative fillings, which are a filling that prevents getting a future filling. As soon as my dentist recommended 4 of these bad boys, I did what any rational person would do and didn't go to the dentist for the next 6 years. 

He looks like a trustworthy dentist

I had 6 great years with no real issues. I had some minor wisdom teeth pain as they shuffled and moved but nothing that would make me stay awake at night, or go back to the dentist. 

Things were great until one day I had some pain near one of my bottom front teeth. And so I started flossing, brushed my teeth an extra time per day, and drank a large glass of concrete. Although strangely, this time the pain was pretty persistent. It was constant. I did what I had always done best and ignored it, or used the pain as motivation for some pretty good personal records in the gym.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. My better (and wiser) half had started being quite persuasive to get me to go to the dentist. I decided to bite the bullet and unwillingly booked in a session at a new BUPA dental clinic.

When it came time to inspect my teeth, I made the dentist work for it. I had my best poker face on when she asked if there had been any pain or issues lately. I wanted to make sure her schooling had paid off, and she could figure out if something was good, bad or ugly on her own merit. I gave some very dull, monotone grunts with my mouth half open as she prodded and poked with her shovel and mini dentist mirror on a chopstick.

I'm sure this went well

She finishes cleaning my teeth, and gives me the usual, “Make sure you come here every 6 months…” pep talk that dentists love (probably hate) to give. NOTHING else. Your teeth are great, she says. Which is always worrying, because either I have such an exotic disease that I’m going to die at some imminent moment or I’ve let someone inexperienced prod and poke around with scary dentist equipment for the last 45 minutes. As I go to leave she asks what type of toothbrush I use. AND then she tells me that she noticed some receding gums which could cause a lot of pain in the future. Funnily enough, the main cause of this…. Brushing your teeth too hard. 

Still in poker mode, I don’t crack. “What could I do to reduce pain if that were the case?’ 

Use a softer brush, and don’t brush as hard!

Here I was thinking I've got issues because I'm not brushing enough, but I'm brushing too hard? I actually didn’t believe it. I went back to my usual brushing routine with 40% power, and bought myself a soft brush. Within a few days I was back to no pain at all. 

With great power, comes great tears for this man

It’s funny to imagine that my strength gains at the gym could have such an unintended consequence. It’s good to reflect on our assumptions and to ensure the roads we plan to travel match our intentions. Plan, Act, Reflect. It’s easy to think that because our intentions are good, we must be guaranteed success. Even with the most resolute and pure cause, we may end up causing irreversible harm to our health, business, family or friends if we do not stop to question our base assumptions (and grab an expert opinion).

So the next time you meditate, ask yourself… what are you brushing too hard?