A Girl with Sensitivity
I LOVE POPCORN! I do not mean the prepackaged microwave stuff. I buy kernels to pop in my Stir Crazy, my air popper, or in the microwave using a paper bag. I also mix my own seasonings. I usually eat popcorn at least two to three times per week. Nevertheless, today, I ate popcorn for the first time in about two weeks. Here is why…
A couple of weeks ago, I started to have a sharp pain in my gums and mouth. It was what I would have imagined that a cavity would have felt like. However, I did not know for sure because I had never had a cavity before. Whatever it was, I knew that I needed to get to a dentist. I do not have dental insurance, so I knew that I was going to have to pay for whatever it was out of pocket, as well.
Two visits and $269 later, neither the dentist nor the dental hygienist could find an issue with my teeth or gums. In fact, when I went for the first visit, the dentist said that I was the third person that day with pain that they could not pinpoint. In the end, I got an exam, full and partial x-rays, a cleaning, and took antibiotics for a week “to rule out infection,” and they found nothing. They could not even recreate the pain while I was there, so we do not know which tooth is the one that may be causing the pain most often.
Their explanation for my pain was simply sensitivity. I spent years brushing with a medium toothbrush before my previous dentist told me, five years ago, that I was brushing away my gums and needed to switch to a soft toothbrush. By then, though, a lot of damage was already done. I did switch immediately, but, with already damaged gums and any continual brushing, the issue just got worse over the years.
The resolution that my current dental team suggested was to start using toothpaste for sensitive teeth and gums, and to try to keep a food diary to see if the pain happened with certain foods and food temperatures. I was already doing the food diary, and I could not find any pattern.
The dental hygienist gave me Colgate Sensitive Enamel Protect to try. The Colgate helped very little, and I decided to look into other options. I usually use Aquafresh toothpaste, particularly the Extreme Clean variety. Thus, I decided to try Aquafresh Sensitive Maximum Strength. The Aquafresh gave me a little bit better results than the Colgate, but the pain was still greater than I thought that it should be.
I finally decided to go to the grandaddy of sensitive pastes, despite the idea of using the brand made me feel like a grandmama. I tried Sensodyne Fresh Impact, and I got the most relief with it. My pain has not gone away fully, and it probably never will. Nevertheless, the pain is much less frequent and much less painful when I do have it.
All three of the pastes have the same ingredient for sensitivity, Potassium Nitrate, and each paste has it in the same amount, 5%. One would think that the results should have been the same. What I think made the difference was the type of toothpaste. Colgate Sensitive Enamel Protect is a paste. Aquafresh Sensitive Maximum Strength is a mixture of paste and gel, but it is mostly paste. Sensodyne Fresh Impact is a mixture of paste and gel, but it seems to be more gel than the Aquafresh. Generally, I find that gel toothpaste seems to penetrate more, and make my teeth feel cleaner. Perhaps that is why I got better results with the Sensodyne.
Another thing that I found to help my mouth before I started having the extreme pain is rinsing with Thieves Fresh Essence Mouthwash. My dad sells the mouthwash and other Young Living products, but the mouthwash is far too expensive for my budget at $13 a bottle. I only use it when I am at his house, and that is if he has some around.
Since I do have some Thieves oil that my father was kind enough to give me a while back, I sometimes massage it into my gums at night before going to bed. Doing this seems to help relieve any pain, as well.
While I am relieved that I can still say that I have never had a cavity, and I am happy to have clean, polished teeth, I am sad to have to face the fact that I will probably have this sensitivity issue for the rest of my life. All that I can do is manage it the best way that I can until someone comes up with a method for gum regeneration. I guess that it could have been a lot worse, though. I am glad that it was “nothing serious” as the dentist said. Try telling me that during moments when I am having the pain. 
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