| They're still pretty common, at least in the people I hang out in. You're very lucky you've not had any cavities since preteen. I've done allot to change my diet to strip out all sugars, refined carbs, acidic foods / drinks etc.
But still get cavities. It's a journey, sometimes a long one, to get to a spot with good oral heath. In my case, I had poor heath education. I didn't know what I didn't know.
Like visiting the dentist is not equal to visiting a dental hygienist.
Up until a few weeks ago, I had no clue what a dental hygienist was or if I should visit one. My dentist never recommended one, so I thought it wasn't needed.
But I recently booked an apt with a dental hygienist at another practice, it was 100% needed. From my understanding, a dental hygienist is more preventative work (and cleaning), while dentist is more the surgeon who does the fixing after an issue has occurred. I learnt a tonne in my first ever dental hygienist visit. Basic things I wasn't doing for my oral heath.
Like flossing... I never done it for years cos I thought it wasn't that big of a deal and cos I thought my teeth were to crammed together, but I learnt (and she showed me) that you can 100% floss my teeth and you defo should! I wish some basic oral heath was taught in school, and that dental (at least 6 months/yearly checkups were free/govt funded), it's so important, and so expensive these days, even for a checkup. It's especially tricky when you want to learn so much while at the dentist/hygienist, but know it's costing you $$$ so don't maybe ask everything. Personally the Teeth Talk Girl YouTube channel has helped me so much and gave me the courage to go back to the dentist (after not going for ~5 years). I highly recommend the channel if you want to learn more on what good oral heath is.
https://www.youtube.com/@TeethTalk |