Today, I’d like to write about “teeth“.
I visit the dentist about twice a year for regular checkups and cleaning.
I also brush my teeth after every meal and floss between my teeth every morning and evening.
The reason I started taking such good care of my teeth was, once again, my allergies.
In my case, I believe that problems with my teeth may have been making my allergies worse.
Taking good care of teeth may help improve allergy symptoms.
Removing Dental Metals
When I was struggling with palmoplantar pustulosis (PPP) and eczema all over my body, I underwent various tests to try to find out what was causing my symptoms.
One of them was a patch test for metal allergies.
Small pieces of paper soaked in solutions containing various metals were placed on my back, and the reactions were checked after three full days.
I tested positive for gold, platinum, palladium, iridium, nickel, aluminum, and tin.
Since palladium and iridium are metals that can be used in dental restorations, I decided to have my old metal fillings replaced with ceramic.
Ceramic restorations are custom-made from dental impressions, so the process is a little more complicated.
First, the metal filling has to be removed and an impression is taken.
At this point, a little extra tooth material had to be removed to make room for the ceramic restoration.
It took about a week for the custom-made ceramic piece to arrive.
During that time, I had a temporary filling.
And that temporary filling had quite a strong solvent smell…
If you are sensitive to solvent odors, I think it’s better to have this kind of treatment done when your health is relatively stable and you don’t have any important plans coming up.
Once the ceramic piece was ready, it was fitted into my tooth.
Ceramic restorations were not covered by my health insurance, and it cost me around ¥70,000.
After that, I was comfortable for about seven years without any problems.
Then one day, the tooth became sensitive, so I went to the dentist and discovered that the ceramic had developed a crack😭
I wasn’t sure whether it was simply reaching the end of its lifespan or whether my habit of clenching my teeth had caused it…
Since replacing it had been such a hassle, I decided to use an even harder material called zirconia the second time, hoping it wouldn’t crack again so soon.
The cost was about the same.
However, harder isn’t necessarily better.
If a material is too hard, the natural opposing teeth can be more likely to wear down when you bite against it.
So it’s important to choose the material while taking things like the balance of your bite into consideration.
Anyway, hopefully this means I’ll be able to leave it alone for a while.
…That’s what I’m hoping, anyway!
Treating a Cavity
Some time after having the dental metal removed, I started experiencing pain around one of my lower wisdom teeth, so I went to the dentist.
It turned out that the molar next to the wisdom tooth had a cavity, so we decided to remove the wisdom tooth and treat the cavity.
And this was quite an ordeal.
Even after the wisdom tooth was removed and the cavity was treated, the pain didn’t go away at all.
A large amount of pus developed, and eventually I could barely eat.
I had already had my other three wisdom teeth removed in the past, but none of them had caused anything like this much pain or pus.
The dentist couldn’t determine the cause, but looking back, I believe it may have been a case of focal infection.
Focal infection is a condition in which an infection occurs in one part of the body and that area becomes a focus from which infection or inflammation continues to affect the body.
In fact, focal infections have been suggested as one possible factor associated with some inflammatory conditions, including certain skin conditions.
Having a chronic source of inflammation somewhere in the body may, in some cases, contribute to or trigger inflammatory reactions elsewhere in the body.
Teeth aren’t the only possible source of a focal infection.
The tonsils can also be involved, and I had my tonsils removed as part of my treatment for palmoplantar pustulosis (PPP).
The causes of allergies and other inflammatory conditions vary from person to person, and some people may have several contributing factors.
In my case, I believe there were multiple factors involved, and I think infections involving my teeth and tonsils were among them.
So, of course, dealing with those issues alone didn’t completely resolve everything.
But I gradually began to feel better, as if one thin layer was being peeled away at a time.
In any case, I believe that if we take good care of our health and live in a way that supports our natural ability to resist infections, our bodies can gradually recover on their own.
And really, our natural teeth are amazing.
Writing this article has made me appreciate once again just how important our teeth are.
Thank you, as always, for reading. 😊