Loni's Life

Since my BFF is out of town for work and her DH needed sedation dentistry work done, I was the family member oncall to see that he got safely to and from the dental office.   Since we share the same dental office, I went ahead and made an appointment to see my dental hygeniest for what was supposed to be a 6-week post periodontal therapy check (missed that appointment due to extended stay in Las Vegas in June).  Good news was that my at-home care has been working; very little bleeding and only a couple of deep pockets at 4, but all the rest at 2's and 3's.   The deep pockets are around porcelain crowns with deep margins and even if replacing those crowns, most likely will have this issue forever... so the verdict was continue on early recalls at 3month cleanings instead of 6 month cleanings and continue home-care with the Sonicare cleanings, flossing, use the rest of the Rx rinse and fluoride treatment and then start Oxyfresh daily care regimen. Picked up BF...

Ok, finished the final 2 quadrants of scaling and planing yesterday and that went ok... except... that now they've informed me that 3 of my crowns need to be replaced... oh joy.. $cha-ching$, $cha-ching$, $cha-ching$.... sigh. So now to save up $moolah$ to pay for replacing these crowns.. they are the oldest ones I have at 15+ years, so they want to replace them to correct the margins so that the periodontal stuff has a chance to heal properly.. big sigh. I'm on the CHX rinse for another week; followed by 2 weeks of fluoride; and then back for yet another periodontal check... hopefully, they will be happy enough with what they see periodontally... and then I can get the crowns done in maybe June after I get back from Puerto Vallarta.

Yippee, I'm doing OK, we did 96 minutes last night and my rear didn't object too much. I am sleeping really well and feeling more energetic. Today is a rest day, whew! This afternoon, I go see the dental hygeniest for another checkup and the ultrasonic debridement (planing & scaling) of another quadrant. Then I think it's back to 1 week of CHX rinse followed by 2 weeks of fluoride and then the next quadrant. I hope that she's happy with the progress.

Ok, finished with this round of CHX, now I get to move on to the fluoride treatments for the next 2 weeks until I go back to the dentists... oh the joys of being 12 again...hahahahaha, yeah right. Tune: Row, Row Row Your Boat... Brush, brush, brush your teeth. At least two times a day. Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, Fighting tooth decay. Floss, floss,floss your teeth. Every single day. Gently, gently, gently,gently, Whisking Plaque away. Rinse, rinse, rinse your teeth Every single day. Swishing, swishing, swishing, swishing, Fighting tooth decay. --Author Unknown

I swear I feel like I must have the cleanest teeth in the world with all this brushing, flossing, and rinsing with the Rx toothpaste and rinse. Almost done with week #1 and then I get to move to a different Rx rinse. The good news is that I don't see any bleeding at the gumline, so I think this hard work may pay off after all.

So now I'm in periodontal therapy every 3 weeks for the next 12 to 18 weeks. I get to have each quadrant of my mouth ultrasonically cleaned under the gumlines (oh joy)... and I get to brush with special toothpaste and rinse with special rinses at least twice a day for the duration of this periotherapy. My hygeniest specified that I needed to be ultra-diligent about the home care (flossing, brushing, rinsing morning and night; brushing and flossing after meals would be great as well). At this point, the periotherapy may actually be not only good for my gums, but for my weight-loss goals. Namely because I am cutting out the in between meals snacking 'cause it's a great big pain to have to go floss and brush after every little nibble.

Went to the dentist yesterday for an early recall appointment with the hygienist . Aww fooey ... too many bloody spots along the gumline , so now I am back into periotherapy treatments for the next 9 to 18 weeks starting Monday. The good news was that most of the pockets were measuring 2 or 3mm with only a few 4's in the back and no 5's... so that's good. Off to go floss and brush again. I sure hope whatever perio-rinse they put me on this time doesn't turn my tongue blue like a Chow-Chow again; that was no fun. Still... the brushing, flossing, and rinsing is better than having to go thru that awful scaling and root planing.