So, I went to the dentist for the first time in a decade today.

My parents took me to the dentist twice as a kid. When I got old enough to be handling my own health affairs, just not having a history of dental care made me not think of it a whole lot. Even during my undergrad, when I had student coverage.

Now that I'm doing my masters and have coverage again, I was like "shit, I should stop sitting on this." No reason I should just let inertia dictate my own choices. It was also motivated by a post on CPTSD forum (not that I think I have that, but a lot of people who have it also have ACEs, so I've got enough in common with them to get something out of reading the content) reminding everybody who had kinda rough childhoods to go to the dentist.

This is the first time I have ever benefited from an "I don't know who needs to hear this right now" post.

well what the hell happened? can't believe i read all that shit and no word on cavities or whatfuckingever. what a tease, smdh. you can talk about your trauma sure throw that in there why not but what about your fucking gums

No news is good news, I hope

They said I had surprisingly little buildup and that my gums were good. However, I have four cavities. One, they are not sure if it's near the nerve yet, so they'll have to check that and let me know if I'll need a root canal.

ouch
hopefully it'll turn out ok

That's really not bad for not having gone in so long.

I had a similar amount of time between cleanings and I had to get all my wisdom teeth and two extra molars removed (not crowded, just terrible cavities), plus one other root canal and one small regular cavity. But I also took shit care of my teeth that entire time. And even that amount of work is not really that bad under the circumstances.

I always thought I was lazy and gross for not taking care of shit like this, even setting reminders I wouldn't brush my teeth regularly. But making an actual checklist works because I see it multiple times and can't just hit one button to make it go away. It took me so long to figure this out. I have the most basic checklist of shit to do every day and feel like an idiot, but god damn do I take all my meds and brush my teeth and change my cat's food and water (I already did this but still added it) and eat vegetables every day now.

I think checklists are great! I've been in the same routine for so long that my checklist is mental at this point, but if I'm overwhelmed with extra tasks then I write it all out.

I print one off every week and put it on the fridge like a five-year-old. To be clear, there's plenty of shit I do without a problem. It's just certain things I could never get myself to do that are magically fixed with a checklist and some very basic rules.

i just use a phone app called ticktick. you can schedule stuff and have things repeat daily automatically. quite nice

I subscribed to Discovery + and now I'm in TV heaven. This is the absolute perfect streaming service for me! TLC, ID, and Food Network in one place? Yes!

All I need now is Game Show Network

yeah phone notifications don't work for me for daily stuff for some reason. I think maybe I hate switching tasks on demand so it's easier for me to see the list over and over when I'm likely to not be doing anything I'm really focused on.

yeah DO NOT sleep on this

I let a cavity go to the nerve on one of my wisdom teeth and the pain was severe until I got it extracted

it's so stupid how dumb our teeth are. like i know people with a bad toothache get suicidal from the pain. can't we just be like dinosaurs. or have them regrow

FUCK YOU, AN ODE TO TEETH

I met Danzig today

I said "hi, you're Danzig"

and he was like "what's up"

The correct response to him would have been, "not you."

he looked almost on alert because I am a foot taller than him, but then immediately was put at ease when he realized it was just another fucking nerd

was he just getting a coffee or...?

So you're leaving out that you immediately said "You should play Wolverine in the X-Men reboot"?

he was shopping

have seen Keith of Circle Jerks and the Duran Duran bassist as well

I never ran into anyone interesting in Austin. I smoked pot with Doug Benson at a High Times party once, and that is the grand highlight of my celebrity encounters.

We do it to ourselves with our agricultural diet. People in prehistoric times hardly ever got cavities.

i dont know if i missed a joke here but this isn't true at all :beatup:

Hmm. I found material in support of both sides. Perhaps the prevalence of tooth decay in pre-agricultural humans differed from society to society.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/s...eology-science

https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...ks-and-sweets/

you guys are living in the past

When people speak of the "good old days," what they mean is the Paleolithic Era, but personally I believe we should have stopped in the Devonian Period

Total tradwife material here

Troglodyte wife

This is lame but I want to talk about it. I filed my taxes, and instead of owing $3k like I thought, I was eligible for some credit and will have a $2k refund. So I bought myself a $1k dream chair that I've always wanted. A recliner with a footrest, leather, and super large and comfy. I'm having expected aches and pains as I near the second half of pregnancy, and my old crappy couch is like sitting on springs. So this is a small happiness for me! Next I'll buy that 11 globe Turkish floor lamp!