Okay, I had my root canal done by Dr. Nozomi Yamauchi over at Island Endodontics a couple of weeks ago. How was it? Longer than anticipated because my tooth was quite endangered. But it was also very wonderful because of the gadgets that are employed (mouth trampoline, soft block to hold my mouth open, and the most comfortable chair to relax in and headphones to listen to music. He is located in the most beautiful building in Kaimuki – 3660 on the Rise, and fully validates parking (I was there for TWO hours!).

I was worried that I would have extreme pain and recovery but I had zero pain that day and night, except for the area where the numbing shot went into my gum line. He had to cut away some of my gums (deep and invasive decay) so I was told to keep that area free from food debris with rinses. This was easy to do since I had started Dr. Ellie Phillips’ rinse, brush, and rinse, rinse procedure. I was shown pictures of my abscessed tooth and the after pictures of a ceramic post (which was then covered with a temporary “tooth”.

Yesterday I went to see my wonderful dentist, Hideki Kurokawa (808) 538-0047 for a cleaning with my favorite dental hygienist Liane (she cracks me up) and to schedule a crown. I told her about Dr. Ellie’s rinse brush rinse rinse protocol with certain sodium fluoride products and she commented about how glossy my teeth had become. She was a bit taken aback when I mentioned not flossing. She also showed me how to brush the gumline and teeth with a diagonal motion rather than straight across to really get into the pockets of teeth and gum.

She spoke to Dr. Kurokawa about what I was doing and when he came in for the consult, he said to keep doing what I was doing. According to Dr. Ellie, if my mouth is in optimal health and my saliva is doing what it should be doing and not acid from sugar, foods, etc., cavities can actually be reversed. I have this one cavity right on the top of my front tooth that will be the guinea pig for this. It is so visible and easy to monitor.

What Dr. Kurokawa said was very interesting. He said many things do work for peoples’ health and well being but it also depends on whether or not people actually do what needs to be done. I raise my hand in guilt. But this one – I WILL do. And I just received my order of Zellie’s Xylitol gum and mints (it took 2 weeks to get to me!) and will have a gum after every meal, drink or snack. Did you know that in Finland they give Xylitol gum to the little children after their lunch and recommend it to pregnant mothers so they combat the ravages of decay in their mouths?

But I digress. To floss or not to floss. Here is Dr. Ellie Phillips presenting her side of the story. And if I do floss, it will be when my mouth is full of Crest Anti-Cavity toothpaste.

Update: Pal Cleta is doing Dr. Phillips’ protocol and had a very good dental exam recently. Hurray! I, myself, am beginning to take my cleaner teeth and mouth for granted – but it really is so much cleaner and feels so much more healthy. It is quite wonderful that I stopped wanting to just pull out all of my teeth and wear dentures.

This tip is for Cleta. Those Act mouth rinse bottles are different from the other bottles with measured doses by squeezing the bottle. I liked that feature and now have the CloSys mouth rinse and the Listerine mouth rinse in the Act bottles. To do that, I pull out the tube thing that sticks up from the “cup” with long nosed pliers. Then I am able to fill the empty Act bottles with either Listerine or CloSys. Put the tube thing back in the bottle, cover with a paper towel and use a small hammer to pound it back in place. I peel off the old Act label (leaves a very stick residue) and then put the CloSys label in its place. I do the same with Listerine (though that label is rather difficult to remove). Then, tadaaa! I have 3 very easy to use rinses that give me just the right amount of liquid for each step. Hope this is a good tip to others!