My 2nd Dental Exam

I'm going to preface this with a little history.  When I was a kid, my family never had dental insurance, so I never saw the dentist.  In college, I had x-rays to make sure my wisdom teeth weren't doing any damage.  As a trumpet player, the nerves and muscles in and around my mouth are very important to me.  But that first dentist experience was shady.  The guy owed my dad money, so he gave me the x-rays for free (and he didn't show them to me).

Well, I just got back from my second ever dental exam.  Now that I'm a big girl with big girl dental insurance, I felt obligated to go.  It's not good.  I have to have all of my wisdom teeth removed because they're impacted.  One is even partially erupted.  I also have an undeveloped canine that never pushed a baby tooth out.  There's still a baby tooth in my mouth!  Oh yeah, and 8 cavities that need filled.  It's a mess.  I feel like a failure.

These are all common problems, but you know what upsets me?  I spend so much time taking care of my body.  Exercising and eating right, using lotions, daily vitamins and supplements, hair treatments, nail treatments, and I brush and floss every day.  I feel like I've failed to take proper care of my teeth.  It's almost like a doctor telling me that I have given myself diabetes from being overweight.  I feel like I could have prevented all this.  I nearly obsess over my fitness and eating habits to prevent heart disease and cancer, but have completely neglected my mouth.  It's a shock.  I don't know how to take it. Seeing the x-rays made me feel like a freak and a failure.  I'm down and I need to get out of this.

Now I have to run a 5k 3 days after having 4 wisdom teeth pulled. Fun times are to come.