What ruined your teeth?

Having to pay 10 grand for them.  Total ripoff.   This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at December 25, 2019 11:37 AM MST

Using them.  (I should never have taken them out and played with them)

This post was edited by Art Lover at December 25, 2019 12:42 PM MST

Nothing.  I always managed to avoid a lot of typical dental drama.  I have never had a cavity.  Never had any teeth knocked out.  No gum problems.  Never had jaw issues.  I wore braces to correct common alignment issues.  I never had any trouble with wisdom teeth coming in due to proper planning for them when I wore braces.  The tooth fairy always deemed my teeth to be worthy of serious coinage.  I brush regularly and use a mild whitening mouthwash occasionally.  I see my dentist for checkups and cleanings and I assume from diet and multivitamins I get enough of the much needed calcium for my teeth.  So far so good.

This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at December 25, 2019 5:59 PM MST

Me.
At 22, I went to a dentist in Whitechapel, E1, London U.K.
All I needed was a check-up and clean.

While I was in the very old-fashioned chair and the dremel running in my mouth,
he made lewd comments and began to climb on top of me.

I screamed as loud as I could. (I was terrified.)
Fortunately, someone passing in the street below heard and came running up the stairs.
This stopped the dentist.
I grabbed the dremel by the cable, yanked it back, shoved my knee into the dentist's groin --
but not nearly hard enough. The chair and the angles put me at a disadvantage.
He jerked back.
I managed to twist my self up, push past him and escape.
I passed my saviour on the way down.
He asked if I was all right.
I said I was thanks to him.

After that narrow escape, I could not face going back to another dentist for over thirty years.
By then I had a bad case of peridontitis.
A masseuse was kind enough to tell me that I had seriously bad breath and that I needed to get attention for it.
My husband recommended his dentist who always has a female attendant in the room with him.
It took 8 X 2-hour sessions to clean off all the plaque to deep below the gumlines.
I ended up having six teeth out and dentures.
Since then I've been having regular cleans every three months and maintaining good daily hygiene.
There is now no gum or bone disease and my breath is sweet.

For those who are young here, I recommend never letting gingivitis or peridontitis get started.
It turns out that any kind of chronic infection causes plaque to adhere on the arteries which leads to high blood pressure and heart disease.
It didn't get that bad for me, but it could have if it hadn't been for that wonderful masseuse.

I had no idea why my husband had never mentioned my bad breath,
but since then I've discovered he has a very poor sense of smell - almost none.

It also makes me wonder why none of my friends ever commented.
I can only put it down to notions of politeness and not wanting to give offence.

How horrible, how disgusting! 
I must have been breathing my fowl breath over every friend I kissed
for unknown numbers of months or years -
and in all that time never knew it.

For the record, I am one who would always prefer an unpleasant truth to a pleasant lie or pleasant omission.