Oh God! Why did I Whiten my Teeth?

Stop! Before you pass any sort of judgment on this poor soul for whitening her teeth, please take the time to listen to this story. So, this particular story starts with the appearance of a villainous boil in my gums. If you have a vivid imagination, you might want to skip the next few sentences! The small boil would unexpectedly erupt unleashing a mixture of blood and pus, and then disappear only to return a week later. Now, being a physician myself, I understood that this was an abscess, and this meant only one thing. My hot and cold relationship with the dentist had officially come to an end. The trip to the dentist confirmed my suspicions and the reason for the abscess was a failed root canal. The dentist looked deep into my soul and whispered those words that I have been running from,” You…need to repeat the root canal”.

Argh! Darnation! Those words that I never wanted to hear repeated in my ears! ROOT CANAL! In case you haven’t heard of this delightful procedure, the dentist drills into the roots of the infected tooth removes the infection, and fills the roots. What choice did I have? After preparing my heart adequately, I went ahead and got the root canal done. There is nothing more unsettling than watching an array of torture-looking devices entering your mouth, which additionally made the most horrifying sounds. It was a scene right out of Criminal Minds with the only difference being that a sweet-looking dentist was occasionally asking me if I needed anything to numb the pain.

Well, this finally gets me to the subject of this post. Now, that the root canal ordeal was over, the sweet dentist took a look at my teeth and gently told me that my teeth looked “muddy”. I guess that this feeling would be similar to the way a lover looks at you in bed and apologetically says that you suck. A direct shot to your ego! Honestly, I didn’t even attempt to defend myself because it was the truth. I was an avid coffee drinker and consistent basic dental hygiene like flossing and mouthwashing were non-existent. Hey! Don’t judge me! So, I knew that they were in fact “muddy”. Also, I couldn’t ignore the other sinking feeling when the words teeth whitening were mentioned. I could hear the coins clinking as they left my bank account. Firstly, I hated departing with my money and secondly, I hated wasting money for the sake of vanity. I had a tough decision to make between having whiter teeth and an emptier bank account. At the last moment, like Gandalf the White who always came to rescue everyone in the Lord of the Rings, I decided to go for it.

Something changed and I had broken my pattern. I decided to invest and treat myself to the utmost form of self-love. In this case, it would seem to be to whiten my “muddy” and coffee-stained teeth. Hallelujah! Can you hear the men riding in on their stallions, to take my beautiful hand in marriage and stare lovingly at my pearly white teeth? It may seem like a small decision, but I confess that I had neglected my body plenty and it was time to change that. This was a new beginning and getting my teeth whitened seemed like the right place to start.

Unlike the root canal, the teeth whitening procedure was fairly painless where the dentist applied a bleaching product on my teeth for a few minutes at a time. A light was passed over the teeth for eight minutes and this was repeated in cycles. After the procedure, I was asked not to eat any foods that would stain my teeth for three days following the procedure. Yes, this meant no coffee for three days. You might imagine that I came away with ultra-white teeth that glowed in the dark like in the episode from “Friends” where Ross got his teeth whitened. In reality, my teeth looked natural and my smile became ever so attractive. So, watch out ladies and gentlemen because this killer smile will stop you dead in your tracks.

Post Whitening Smile!

I didn’t imagine that something as small as paying attention to my teeth could increase the level of confidence that I had in myself as a woman. I mean look at this cutie smiling so beautifully in the photo above. It made all the difference and now I stand for all the world to see me as a changed person. Finally, I am entering into an era of my life where I am beginning to understand the importance of self-love and self-care. Of course, the bill for the dentist has made me more conscious about rinsing my mouth after drinking coffee, flossing, and brushing my teeth every night without fail. So, here’s to the era in which I celebrate myself and honor the God-given body that is going to take me through the remainder of the short journey that we call life.