Oral Hygiene

I went to the dentist this morning. When I got my little childtax credits windfall I made myself book an appointment with a hygienist. It's not cheap at £50 a go but I don't want my teeth to fall out. I had a regular check up appointment too but that was free because I'm on income support. Lucky lucky me because that doesn't come cheap for the rest of the country.

Does anyone else worry about the state of the nation's teeth? There was a time when not only was a checkup free for all but so was a good old clean of them gnashers and gums. Given Up Smoking mum in the playground (I'll find a name for her soon) hasn't been to a dentist for decades. She's too scared she says, but she's also a low income mamma and well, teeth aren't much of a priority for many of us. We don't put £2 aside every week until we've got enough to get them seen to. One of those things I suppose...

I first went to a hygienist two years ago after I'd given up smoking. It had been years and the pain was justified in my mind by the amount of blood I had to rinse out.
It's less painful now, and there's less blood, which is good.

I haven't had a cigarette yet either. This may have something to do with the scraping and prodding with a soft brush of my receding gums. It may also have to do with the article I read in the British Dental Journal (dec 2007) while I was waiting.

In America they have found links between oral cancer and ethnicity.
African Americans and Caucasian's are most at risk of oral cancer, mostly tongue cancer. Smoking is attributed to this.
In Asia, Koreans are most at risk of tongue cancer, again, smoking is highlighted as cause.
Some South East Asian countries are at risk of inner cheek cancer, from chewing tobacco or areca nut.
But Filipini women are most at risk of cancer of the palate. This, says the report, is attributed to the practice of reverse smoking, "when the lit part of the cigarette is concealed in the mouth."

Cancer of the palate? Cancer of the inner cheek? I don't know where I've been all my life but I always thought throat cancer and cancer of the tongue for us smokers. But hell, why should an oral cancer limit itself to those?

I will give up smoking. I will, I will. Soon