Broke tooth gnawing meat from a beef short rib today! This is what happens growing up somewhere without fluoride in the drinking water and having a sweet tooth.
How I broke tooth
Tonight I slowly oven roasted a rack of beef short ribs for dinner. The meat was tender and fell off the bone, although there was a little meat still attached and needed to be gnawed off. That was my downfall.
A childhood deficiency
As much as I loved my childhood and growing up in Brisbane, there was one significant shortcoming. For reasons that baffle me, the government in Queensland and the Brisbane City Council resisted the evidence that fluoride in the drinking water protected teeth against dental caries.
I just can’t understand it. I was always at the dentist getting fillings. The same was true for my brothers and my mother. Elsewhere in Australia, fluoride in the water was protecting the teeth of everyone.
I’m grateful I have a well-paying job and can afford to attend the dentist. I have three ceramic crowns and two white gold crowns and about half of my teeth have had root canal treatment.
Yesterday I mentioned that if I was President of Australia, I’d campaign on a long weekend every month. I think I’d also campaign on fluoridation of drinking water and free vaccination for adults and children against important communicable diseases.
I shouldn’t blame my poor dentition on the lack of water fluoridation alone. I’ve always been fond of sugar-laden food and my dental hygiene hasn’t always been up to par.
Anyway, I’m hoping I can get into a dentist next week to repair the molar that has broken.
How do you feel about fluoridation of the drinking water?
How do you feel about the cost of dental care?
Gary, OUCH! Hope you are feeling better after the broken tooth! But those ribs??? Yum!!!!
I hate the dentist in general, but I kinda like my dentist. She’s very soothing and patient! 🙂
We do have flouride in our water here, so teefers seem strong and dense. But it’s never enough (for me, anyway!). I drink coffee (daily) and red wine (almost daily), so I am a huge whitening fiend! 🙂
But, we also have a lot of other crazy minerals and stuff in our water here, like calcium, etc….so, as a result a lot of us tend to filter, I think.
Again, feel better. I like the pics in your gallery on your gravatar page! I hadn’t seen those before. Very nice. 🙂
Linking your blog first thing in the a.m. Don’t know how much it will help, but I am back and public again….for now. Thanks for your patience. I’m still getting the hang of this blogging thing. ❤︎
Nice to see you again. Welcome back 😃
Thanks for the linking too.
Fortunately there’s been little pain. The tooth has previously had root canal treatment so the nerve has been removed. I just need to make an appointment with my dentist and get a crown added. That will be very $$$. It’s a good thing it’s pay week.
Well, here’s to you getting all fixed up. 🙂
Hey, I can’t seem to follow you in my reader. I signed up for the email sub, though.
Thanks for subscribing. It’s odd you can’t follow in WordPress.com reader. I’ve got Jetpack set up to let others do just that. Oh well, WordPress seems to get complicated.
haha, or it’s just me! lolz
Nah, I’m sure it’s a WordPress gremlin or just my ignorance of certain settings 😃
When I was small, there was fluoride in the water. I’ve always thought this was why I have had fairly good teeth. I haven’t been to a dentist in ages, though. I am pretty sure my cavity free life is at an end, but I’ll wait til I can afford to find out. Persons with Diabetes can have nasty teeth problems and I’m pretty sure I’m one of them. Because I drink a great deal of Diet Pepsi. I had cut it all out, but then, I started care giving for mom and well….one can work better under the influence of Diet soda than other, tastier beverages!
I’ve been pretty well addicted to carbonated soft drinks all my life. I know they are bad for my teeth. I don’t smoke or drink. Soft drinks are my vice.
I have only recently discovered wine. A rare occurrence, but oddly nice at times. I discovered Diet Pepsi in college. There was a machine in the girl’s dorm.
If I could drink I’m sure I’d enjoy beer and wine.
NOT beer. Too many carbs and a ton of really bad memories of my youth. OK< not bad, just things I don’t like to remember because it made for a very unusual childhood.
I’m better off not being a drinker I think.
Many people should follow you.
I was reading your food blog and thought about the not eating meat on Good Friday thing. Thursday while getting Halal food the vendor said to me, I guess you won’t eat meat tomorrow meaning Good Friday. I was a bit confused at first then I remember that Catholics abstain from meat on Good Friday. I explained to him that No meat Fridays is a Catholic thing. I don’t really eat much red meat anyway since I find it difficult to digest and probably bad for my high blood pressure. I try to stick to poultry and fish. Nor do I consume dairy products. Can’t digest those either except for yogurt.
Sorry for getting off topic.
No worries. It’s odd how when something that is specific to one particular denomination gets generalised to an entire religious group.
I’m not that familiar with Roman Catholicism. I guess my bacon and ribs yesterday wasn’t something they would indulge in.
Now that I’ve broken that tooth I think it will be fish and poultry for me too this weekend.
I wonder if some of it isn’t genetics – in my family, if you get my dad’s teeth, you’re going to have lots of tooth trouble, while my mom has much better teeth. They grew up in the same small town and have gone to the same dentist probably since they were kids (they still do). I’m thankful to have my mom’s teeth!
I’m thinking that’s true too. Both of my parents have poor teeth. I envy good teeth people 😃
I have good teeth, but they were very crooked and I have a bad overbite. I’ll take both of those things over bad teeth any day!
I agree, people used to say my smile was nice, but now there are glints of gold from the crowns and root canal treatments.
Just think of it as a more valuable smile!
Good point 😀
As far as I know America has fluoridated water. I too had a sweet tooth as a child and young adult. Uncle Sam pulled several of my teeth when I was in the US ARMY and I was fortunate to have jobs with dental insurance. Being that root canals are not fun and knowing that both my parents lost all their teeth is incentive to brush several times a day and go for those twice a year cleanings. I have had root canals and crowns in the past which my current dental insurance doesn’t cover I must protect my teeth and not make the dentist rich.
I agree. I want to keep my teeth. My parents have partial dentures and are always complaining. I love eating so much, I want my own teeth.