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I never used to be a coffee drinker. I grew up watching my parents drink the stuff, but I never much cared for it myself. I did really enjoy the smell of coffee, and it reminded me of relaxing mornings, but I never cared for the taste much. I only ever drank it on mornings where I had slept very poorly the night before, and my mom would give me some to drink before I went to school to wake me up a little bit. It wasn’t until I got to college that I truly began to appreciate coffee. I only began drinking coffee because that’s what everyone seemed to do on my college campus, and there was a very popular coffee shop in the student center. I would drink it in small doses on occasions on social outings with my friends or something like that, or on days where I really struggled to wake up. 

However, the more I drank it, the more accustomed to the taste I got with it. I started to pick on a trend of using less and less creamer, enjoying more coffee simply for the flavor of the coffee and how it tasted. Uh oh.. Soon enough, I became a full blown coffee drinker. Count me in as one of the hundreds of millions of Americans who start their day with a good old fashioned cup of joe. Where I used to enjoy maybe two or three coffees a week before, I began to drink a lot more as I’ve gotten older. Freshman year of college, I finally broke down and bought myself a Keurig. The problem with this is that now I had access to coffee all the time. I started to drink at least one cup of coffee a day, if not much more depending on how busy I was, how tired I felt, or how much work I had to do. 

The problem I ran into with coffee is that it isn’t great for your teeth. In fact, I learned that coffee has a tendency to stain your teeth and make them look pretty gross if you don’t try to whiten them in some way. I have not gone to the dentist in years, but I have been taking good care of my teeth for the most part. I have only ever had one cavity in my life and have not had any serious complications when it comes to my dental health. However, I am very insecure about my teeth looking gross and therefore do not want my coffee drinking habit to have too big of an impact on my teeth. I looked up different dentist recommendations for whitening teeth and removing surface stains.

The biggest change I made is toothpaste. I wanted to get a toothpaste that would really help to whiten my teeth as well as prevent cavities and fight any bad breath. After hours of research, I decided to use Crest 3D White toothpaste and have so far been happy with the results. I also use this blue light and gel whitening technology that I got for Christmas last year, and that has also been helpful in keeping my teeth from getting too stained. It’s not at the point where I would cut out coffee, but maybe if my teeth get bad that is something I would consider. Geez, why does everything that’s good have to have something about it that is also bad?

As a child, I never enjoyed going to the dentist. Having someone’s fingers in my mouth was not the best thing to me as it was rather annoying and gross. I also never liked the metal tools they used to scrap my teeth. My mother told me the importance of dental hygiene and going to the dentist even though I do not enjoy it. I wish I had listened to her more as I recently had to get a tooth extracted due to excess plaque build-up. If I had listened to her, then I would have never had to experience such a grueling procedure. 

One day after having dinner with my family, one of my teeth was hurting me a lot. I tried to brush my teeth, but as soon as the bristles of the brush touched the tooth that was in pain, I stopped and screamed out in pain. My parents came running in to check on me. They asked me what was wrong or happened. I then told them that I had a tooth that was hurting me really bad, and I did not know why. My mother instantly told me that it was because I do not take care of my oral health. I knew she was right but never the less I got a dentist appointment scheduled so they could take a look at my tooth and help me out. 

When I got to the dentist’s office for my appointment, I had to fill out some paperwork. Once I finished the paperwork, and I turned it in. after I turned it in, I sat around for about another five minutes. After that, I was called back to the operating room. When I got back there, they got me situated in the chair and said the dental surgeon would be in in a moment. After about a minute, the surgeon came to my side and introduced herself to me. She asked me what was wrong, and I began telling her the pain I had in my mouth from a tooth, and I pointed to the general area. She said it might be a cavity, gum disease, or something like that. She had me open my mouth, and without needing to look too hard, she said it was gum disease that is possibly leading to tooth loss. She said she would need to extract it immediately. 

I did not hesitate to accept her judgment. I was not expecting the pain that was going to accompany the extraction. She numbed my mouth near the affected area. Once it was numbed, she began the extraction. It was simple. She really just pulled it out due to how loose it was and how much pain it was causing me. Once it was out, she put a metal tooth in, and that was that. 

The pain was excruciating following the extraction, but I am glad to have had it taken out. Now that I have a metal tooth, I like to think I am pretty cool. I wish I had listened to my mom before the issues showed themselves. Today I make sure to brush my teeth twice a day, sometimes three. I also make sure to floss and use mouth wash. I do not want any other oral health issues to present themselves.