Dental Hygienists - WTF is Wrong with these People

Robert · Feb 8, 2003

I have a couple of questions for anyone here that is, or may know, a Dental Hygienist. WTF is wrong with these people? 
No matter how much you floss, it just isn't good enough. It's already a 4 to 6 times a day thing. Short of walking around all day with a piece of floss continually cycling through your teeth, how much more do they want? 
edited to not be so harsh <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/images/smilies/smiley.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="

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GhostUser · Feb 8, 2003

I wonder how many times they floss a day.

Michael · Feb 8, 2003

Say "I obviously don't get it, you keep telling me and still it's not right. Let me poke your gums to see what it should be like."

Robert · Feb 8, 2003

Heheheh, right. Geez, these people crack me up. I swear you could go for a complete cleaning at one Hygienist and go directly to another the very next hour and they'd still tell you you need to floss more. 
The way it is now, they have half of our country flossing like the folks at Oral-B want the floss containers back.

ceryna · Feb 8, 2003

someone told me once that Hygienists are expected, by the Dentists they work for, to be extremely picky and find every single problem they possibly can, as the Dentist makes more money when he/she has more work to do. 
Sometimes, though, I think they go a little overboard with the condescending attitude, though, because when my little sister was ten years old, a Hygienist made her cry. ;-; 
Yes, my sister had been neglecting her teeth, but I think that having to have the cavities filled was punishment enough, without having someone castigating you about it for a half-hour. 
*shrugs* JMO.

soilman · Feb 8, 2003

Hahaha. It is rude to castigate people, and rude to tell people they need to floss more, without even looking at their teeth first. And most of them are rude like this. But otherwise I love dental hygientists. And my dental hygienist doesn't tell me I don't floss enough. Believe it or not. Nor does my dentist. They both tell me I am have the best dental hygiene of anyone they know. They get my teeth so clean! And they work so hard at it! And they charge so much less per hour than the rude dentist charges. By the way, some dentists do cleanings themselves, and they say read off the exact same castigating lines that dental hygientst read. They must have the same script. I just laugh at them. I know how much I floss, and I know its the right amount.

luckiecharms · Feb 8, 2003

I have a nice dentist becasue he never says that to me. In fact i NEVER floss. I dont ever get food stuck in my teeth lol. But yeah sometimes they say I do a good job brushing and thats probably becasue I brush my teeth right before I go to the dentist so they arent nasty and my breath doesnt stink.

Thalia · Feb 8, 2003

Just so you know LC- flossing is more for your gums than anything else. I highly recommend it. 
Yes flossing prevents gingivitis which can lead to teeth falling out, and other long term health problems (like it actually contributes to things like heart disease if you have bad teeth), and I think they assume if there is any blood when they floss you that you are not flossing enough. 
Well my teeth are very tight, and you have to kind of work the floss in there. There is an art to it. But they don't "work it" they just push down harder and harder until it breaks through. What do they think will happen? blood. Everytime they floss my teeth I tense up my muscles with each tooth. Much more unpleasant than having my teeth drilled!

Robert · Feb 8, 2003

Right, its primarily for the gums. And, my teeth are very healthy, no cavities, I floss multiple times per day after everythng I eat etc. My gums never bleed. 
But, its still never good enough for the Hygienist.

soilman · Feb 8, 2003

"Right, its primarily for the gums." 
Well sort of. If you get gingivitis (gum inflammation) the next thing to get infected is the bone just below them. You can lose bone this way. And this bone does not regenerate once it is lost. Lose more than a certain amount of bone -- and your teeth get loose in their bone sockets, leading to diseases of the tooth root, and eventual loss of the tooth. You cannot save a tooth with poor bone support, no matter what you do. And once u lose the bone support, there is nothing that can be done. So they focus on preventing it. They overdo it sometimes. But most loss of teeth in adults is due to gingivitis not to injury, and not to carious lesions starting in the tooth's crown.

Baby · Feb 8, 2003

Robert, you need to find a new Hygienist to see what they say. My Hygeneist is a very negative person in general, but she always has complimentary things to say about my dental habits. 
I don't know her well, but she is perfectly comfortable telling me about how much she regrets having children, and what scum men are, all the while having her fist jammed in my mouth. It's her special brand of torture, knowing there is no way for me to respond. 
You just may be one of those people who gathers plaque quickly. Don't take it to heart, just find someone else who better suits you.

LadyFaile · Feb 8, 2003

hygenists scare me. they're rough with that floss. next time i go in i'm gonna floss for an hour first so maybe they won't need to do it 
i haven't been to the dentist in a while, can't afford to, but i know i'll get a huge lecture when i do go. my teeth seem to be really vulnerable, as if the enamel isn't hard enough or something, cause since i was little, no matter how well i keep them clean i always, always have cavities. 
they're very tight together too so flossing always results in blood, not from not doing it enough but from the amount of force it takes to get the floss back out once it's in there. bah. i even use the flat "glide" floss made for that sort of thing and it only helps a little. and my mouth is too small to maneuvre to the back teeth so i tend to just floss the front ones. 
i think my teeth are hopeless, when i'm older i'll likely have to rip them all out and get fakies. they're all shaped wrong or something. though the sonic toothbrush i'm now using seems to help some.

Robert · Feb 8, 2003

<div class="quote-container">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally posted by Baby Robert, you need to find a new Hygienist to see what they say. My Hygeneist is a very negative person in general, but she always has complimentary things to say about my dental habits. 
I don't know her well, but she is perfectly comfortable telling me about how much she regrets having children, and what scum men are, all the while having her fist jammed in my mouth. It's her special brand of torture, knowing there is no way for me to respond. 
You just may be one of those people who gathers plaque quickly. Don't take it to heart, just find someone else who better suits you.</div>
</div>
 
Baby, oh, its not a plaque problem. My teeth and gums are fine and I only went for a routine checkup and a touch-up cleaning. I do this annually at my own request. 
At my dentist's office, there are two Hygienists, one is quite pleasant and one is much more aggressive. I just found it interesting that no matter how healthy someone's teeth/gums are, they still stress "more floss" to anyonew who sits in their chair.

mushroom · Feb 9, 2003

That's weird, Robert. I floss once a day and they have never said that I don't do it enough. 
My middle son is 15 and has never had a cavity, yet he goes days without brushing... (never flosses) then the dentist always tells him what a good job he's doing...

Skylark · Feb 9, 2003

I've always had nice hygenists and dentists, so when people complain about hating going to the dentist, I usually respond with, "I've always liked going. It's not a big thrill, sure, but it's not all that bad." It is kinda rude, though, when they ask you a question about your life while they have you with your mouth wide open. 
They always tell me I'm doing a great job; my whole family, in fact. My little sister Sharon has had major dental work because of completely unexplainable tooth decay, but the dentist said it has nothing to do with her teeth brushing/flossing or eating/drinking habits. She just has bad teeth, and he's seen a few other kids who for no apparent reason at all have bad teeth.

Robert · Feb 9, 2003

Heh, I was sitting in the dentists chair for my normal checkup just about a week ago and to replace a very old filling that had fallen out of one of my wisdom teeth. The way my dentist's office is, it is this square area with a center columm post, and a half wall separating the 4 individusal areas. Ino ther words, you can hear everything that goes on in the other 3 areas. 
While he replaced my filling, a total of 3 people were in with the two hygienists. Every single person was given the same lecture as I have heard them tell me and everyone else who goes in there. My gf, her mother, her sister, etc all get the same spiel. I just assumed it was something they taught these people in college.

1vegan · Feb 10, 2003

Dentists scare the hell out of me 
When a nutter said you have a cavity in one of your wisdom tooth, well take all four of em out, I never went back. 
Eight years later I was forced to go again. (damn that tooth really did hurt) 
I found a nicer dentist, and I try to brush every day, but Im not so structured.

Michael · Feb 10, 2003

Your wisdom teeth should come out anyway. I had them out. Ouch. That sucked. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/images/smilies/sad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="

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mushroom · Feb 10, 2003

Some people have room for their Wisdom teeth. My husband has all four and has never had trouble. I had mine out though, as there wasn't enough room. If you do get them taken out, go to someone very good, as if a tiny piece of bone fragment is left, it can cause SERIOUS complications...such as having part of your jaw removed - even death. This is rare, but still...

RedStarJedi · Feb 10, 2003

I have bad memories of getting my wisdom teeth out because that's when I learned I was alergic to vicidin. I threw up a bunch and was mierable and in pain. It sucked. 
As far as dentists go, my last one sucked. He took over the practrice of my old dentist who retired and was horrible trying to bill me fort all kinds of stuff I didn't really need. What a *******. My older one was cool. Really nice, didn;t try and screw me or my insureance out of money (sad when that's a requsit for being nice) and really cared about me and what was happwening in my life.

Dental Hygienists - WTF is Wrong with these People

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