Asklemmy

I made this post, because I have gone through anxious and depressive states where I have completely overlooked it for weeks.

Sometimes it just falls from the priority list. Can be hard enough getting out of bed some days.

It may seem like a simple little thing. But often they are the hardest.

✌️💛

Wow I never connected this with anxiety/depression but that makes a lot of sense now that I hear it.

I didn’t go to the dentist and didn’t brush my teeth but for maybe the occasional time or for a spurt of a week or two here and there for about the last 15 years, starting in college. I always thought I was special because my teeth didn’t seem to know the difference and my mouth “felt” better. It wasn’t until about a year ago when I had a moler snap in half while eating dinner that I realized I might have an issue. I went to the dentist to have that replaced and was told I needed to make a change or this would keep happening.

I’ve now managed to get myself back on the habit of brushing at least once a day, usually before bed. My mouth hated it at first but after the first month or so it was so much better. I can’t believe I let myself go like I did…

You ever been tested for ADHD? This could be a symptom of that.

Gotta say I feel you. I'm terrible at following through on things/routines and end up disrupting or doing multiple things at once. Funny trend from my experience though is that I remember maybe a decade ago or more the mantra was still 3 times a day. I strive for 2 times but somedays I just knock the fuck out.

At least you are going to the dentist. My uncle was not brushing his teeth. And never to the dentist. Eventually they had to remove all of his teeth because it was all infected and it was too unbearable for him.

I had a depression period of my life where I was doing the worst possible treatment to my teeth - was eating a lot of sugar and would skip brushing here and there; also I was not brushing effectively. My teeth are not in very good condition right now. I wish I had kept a good mouth hygiene even when I was depressed.

Many people fail to think about the depression and lack of brushing. I too am in the same boat. Turns out my meds are even making my teeth soft no matter what i do..

The brushing just before bed is the most important one, so you picked a good bare minimum to uphold. No shade, just curious: how old are your teeth?

Dude your breath probably smells and people are too polite to tell you.

On your tongue there are a lot of anaerobic microbes (on everybody's tongue, it isn't a hygiene thing, they just live there). When you have your mouth closed for a long time, it creates a oxygen poor environment and these microbes thrive in that. They cause bad breath, so after people sleep or simply have their mouth closed for a while, the breath starts to stink. If you look in a mirror and your tongue has a kinda white or brownish tinge, this is because of the microbes. Everybody should brush their teeth and especially their tongue after sleeping. When looking in a mirror the tongue should be entirely pink and look healthy. Clean the tongue as far back as you can, to prevent bad breath.

If you smoke this isn't true, your breath will stink no matter what.

So for your teeth it probably won't matter much not brushing in the mornings, but for your breath it matters a lot.

I’m shocked, because in my country every dentist would recommend you to do it 3 times a day, so hearing there are people out there only doing it as much as twice a day, with quite some people doing just once a day, it’s very shocking for me.

I gotta admit though that more often than not I don’t do it the afternoon because I either forget, or don’t have time to do it. But I do it religiously every morning after breakfast, and every night before I sleep.

You should brush before breakfast to remove the bacteria from your mouth that breaks your teeth in combination with sugar