“Which electric tooth brush are you using?” she asked me. “The one with the round head? Oh, that’s no good. You should switch to one with a rectangular one. Better for the gums.”
Every time I go to the dentist, I get more homework. “Use this special floss once a week.” “Scrape your tongue.” “Apply fluoride every now and then.” It’s as if I had nothing to do all day except clean my teeth. Beyond the obvious upsells, however, their advice is often conflicting. Not just between one dentist and another but even in the same practice. “Oh, that was six months ago. Now, there’s a new study!”
Different people will feel healthy under different conditions, and different people need different conditions to actually be healthy. That makes for infinite combinations—and health a very subjective issue. If even doctors constantly argue about what’s best and change their minds every few months, finding universal rules is nearly impossible. Then, there’s the issue of perception.
One person will consider themselves healthy with a broken arm and a wheatgrass allergy, others will feel sick at the slightest sniffle. In reality, our health always lives on a spectrum. But sick/not sick is easier to process, and so how healthy you feel depends largely on your outlook. Optimistic people might end up actually healthier simply because they feel healthier more of the time.
Compared to five years ago, my dental routine has improved by a factor of ten or so. I now use an electric toothbrush that does the correct motions automatically, floss every night, and do some fluoride treatment once a week. I even got a mouth guard to combat grinding my teeth at night. But somewhere, there needs to be a line.
How much of your life’s time are you willing to dedicate to cleaning your teeth? Repeat this question for food, exercising, sleeping, and a bunch of other areas, and you’ll have a system, or at least a place to start. Your answers will change anyway. Oh, and they’re entirely subjective, too. Just like health.
