dentist, positive
I have reached infection zero 👏
Just visited dentist to have a final check before transplantation, and they found zero current issues; only a slight risk of future issues for my wisdom teeth, but they are currently issue-free (and the risk of removing them could actually be bigger).
This has been a many-year project for me, honestly, and it started before I knew I needed a transplantation.
dentist, positive, details and advice
There are three main things that helped me get my teeth into a healthy state:
1. I changed toothpaste to Elmex. I don't generally care about brands, but crucially their formulation is different and it doesn't cause slimy-throat for me like most other toothpastes do. The exact reason is unclear to me. It made it much less unpleasant.
2. I got an electric toothbrush (one of those 'sonic' things, but from Lidl) that is waterproof and so can be used under the shower. This made it easy to integrate into my evening shower routine, so I could brush my teeth in relaxing comfort (important because my Tourettes is triggered by repetitive movements... like brushing teeth, and I need to be very relaxed to suppress this).
3. I got a water flosser, one of those that pumps water into high-speed bursts. Instead of just flossing, I also aim it carefully between my teeth and gums, to flush out the crap that's causing inflammation and infection. This is important because my executive dysfunction prevents me from reliably brushing twice a day, and so it builds up. An alternative but less pleasant solution is to use chlorhexidine mouthwash (note that it can have side effects).
These things, combined with a long-running deliberate effort to get things in order, and quarterly teeth cleaning at a very helpful dentist as a temporary measure, are what helped me ultimately get my teeth in very good shape again - after a literal decade of barely brushing due to a litany of brain and disability issues, and never visiting a dentist.
Long story short: yes, it's possible to recover from even very bad dental hygiene. But you need to think very deliberately about *what* it is that is preventing good dental hygiene for you, and try to find concrete solutions to it. Just "trying to remember harder" is not going to fix it, regardless of what your parents/friends/etc. say.
There are most likely many other solutions to these issues too, if the above are not accessible to you for any reason.
And most of all, there's more than one way to get there. The nominally 'correct' way isn't necessarily the right way, when things like disability get in the way. Sometimes you just need something different that does the same job better for you. There is no shame in that.
