ADHD Caused My Dental Disease

I knew it was true, and the data justified my conclusions:  having attention management problems is associated with poor dental outcomes.

A long time ago I attended a dental hygiene presentation by a professional, who taught us to make little circular motions with our toothbrush. Each tooth should get a gentle scrubbing lasting for a count of 10, before moving on to the next tooth. I also learned that the total time spent brushing your teeth should be no less than 2 minutes. On some days,  I will  set the timer  to make sure I brush my teeth for 2 minutes, because most days it’s a quick scraping off of the germs that cause bad breath.

I don’t like brushing for that long because I don’t like that I cannot do anything else in those 2 minutes. When you are brushing your teeth your dominant hand is busy holding the toothbrush,  and your  mouth is also occupied with the activity.  It’s no surprise that I definitely would not be waiting around to waste more time by flossing my teeth or using the water pick!

In the past couple of years, the spaces that the dental hygienist measures in my mouth have shown that my periodontal disease has progressed. At my cleanings, I lie in fear and anticipation of hearing the “4s” and then “5s” and then “6s” from the hygienist’s exam. I might even now have a “7!” Despite keeping plastic tooth pick scrubbers handy in my vehicle, I have not been able to overcome the advancement of bone loss represented by the high numbers the hygienist calls out.

Now that I am a full grown adult, I own, and I can even enjoy the feeling of a fresh mouth after a lovely cleansing with the water flosser. However, I am afraid it’s too little, too late for my teeth. I still hear the dentist and the hygienist coach me to keep at my flossing and picking, lest the bone less grows all the more advanced. And as the dentist says with an air of superiority, “You can’t get back bone.” While this is certainly not the most traumatizing of medical afflictions, I have enjoyed a relatively healthy smile for a long time and losing it upsets me.  I am resentful that my inability to stand still long enough to take care of my teeth properly has resulted in the destruction of my food grinders and my people pleasing smile.

It’s a struggle to keep up with doing all the things that are required to be a grown up. In fact, it is exceedingly hard to choose between the cacophony of distractions, obligations, and enjoyments that are too plentiful in our modern world. This struggle of choosing where to put attention and energy is multiplied for the ADHD brain. If you have attention problems and are reading this, consider this your loving call to slow down and floss.

Xoxoxox

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