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Originally Posted by Creizen
Hi, my teeth/gums are in not so great condition right now. My upper set of teeth are in good shape but as has been the history of my teeth, my lower are troublesome, my lower teeth have grown in an untidy way, so that I can't actually close my front teeth together properly. This actually I guess is to do with my jaw rather than teeth, because no matter how I look at it, even if they were replaced or anything, they still wouldn't meet my top set. Anyway because my teeth are untidy arranged and I'm not massively well behaved with keeping up with brushing properly every day(my own fault yes I am lazy) a lot of hard plaque has built up.
Usually I go to the dentist every 6 months, and they find it and remove it with a drill/pick thing and say everythings fine, never has any dentist helped me with the lower teeth arrangement, and so I never really took it as a problem, and I never bothered to ask until now. But now I've been in China for 9 months without seeing a dentist and I don't really trust chinese dentists, plus i have no healthcare here, so I'd have to pay for anything, not that its actually expensive but if they ever messed up, fees would mount.
So as its been so long, the hard plaque has started to build up again, I've recently been brushing a lot frequently to try to make up for lost time as it were, but I'm not so naive as to think that would work. There's no pain yet but I'm just wondering what I should do with this hard plaque buildup and no imminent travel back to the UK to see a trustworthy dentist. And whether my lower set can actually be tidied so they look ok and my jaw fixed or anything done about that. It's not terrible, but its just something that bothers me a little.
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Tough situation. In reality, it's not the hard stuff that causes disease, it's the soft stuff that does it. Without cleaning, the soft stuff hardens over time. Kinda like when you cook & get a mess on your kitchen counter. If you clean it right away you just need a soft sponge or paper towel (i.e. toothbrush). If you let it build up you need to scrape it off the counter (i.e. dentist's scraper). So while it's the soft stuff (bacteria) that causes disease, the hard stuff makes it very difficult for you to get rid of the bacteria.
I have a buddy training over here from China and I know that they don't learn/teach proper hygiene over there so finding someone who can help you might be tough. He is planning on going back there when finished training and so I can't believe that he's the only one to do this. Is there a way to find US/Canadian/European or Australian-trained dentists? I know someone very good in Malaysia... do you ever travel there??
If not, the best you might be able to do is to keep things spotless (completely free of soft plaque) until your gums do not bleed at all on brushing & flossing. Do this until you get back to England and then change your habits so you don't lose your teeth! Good luck.
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Originally Posted by Xazy
I am wondering is act restoring mouthwash any better then listerine?
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No, Listerine is actually the most proven. In reality I'm not sure of the need for a mouthrinse if you brush & floss well. In those more susceptible to disease there are advantages to using an antibacterial rinse like Listerine or Chlorhexidine (Peridex). Personally I use Crest ProHealth because I prefer the taste and lack of alcohol burn. But brushing & flossing is WAY more important.