Good Morning
My wife and I are 58 & 59. Super health conscious (same height, weight, blood pressure and resting pulse as the day I graduated high school.) EXCEPT we drink 2 seven ounce margaritas each day while we play board / card games together. Our "Happy Hour". We are loathe to even given this routine up for one day. We've been doing it since 2001 and have "coming to Jesus" conversations regularly if we find we "BS'd" one or the other into having "just a half drink more today, because...". So rationalizations aside, my wife is meticulous about her teeth and hasn't had any changes yet. I brush 3x day, floss every other day BUT have VERY crooked teeth. I really should've had braces. But also have deep pockets, which I have improved markedly through flossing (pockets are a handful of 4's and one 5, and then 222-232 etc from there).
So my hygienist discovered 2 small cavities yesterday at me 4 months visit (because of previous gum disease, they insist on 3-4 visits per year). She was also curious about a thinning of enamel in a couple of spots and asked if I'd been drinking anything sweet on a regular basis. We make our own margaritas, 100%, and each batch I lower the sugar (evaporated cane juice) to see how low we can go before we start puckering. So when I told her about our Margarita habit she first advised, "don't spend much time. Down the hatch, get it done." And of course...that's terrible advice all round except perhaps for enamel health. Her reasoning being the "cavity zone" (low ph environment) that's created by immersion in sugary substances. I immeidately asked, "Ok, outside of changing our habit, what after care can I do?" and her reply was first, to wait 30 minutes after. Apparently DURING this low ph phase, it's not "best practice" to brush because the enamel is a bit softer and more vulnerable. So we started last doing the following: Happy hour 2.30-5. Dinner 5.15 (always a salad), TV and talk 5.45 to 6.30. Then we go our separate ways until 8.30 bed time. But before we go separate ways, we brush well, and use flouride mouthwash, then no more food utnil breakfast. Does this sound like a sound "compromise?" Again, we're not in the same boat. I'll always be more vulnerable. I had gum disease, and brutally crooked teeth. My wife is 58 with perfect teeth and never a cavity. (I have 5-7 lifetime, so not horrible but still.)
Love to get your feedback. You're of course welcome to focus on the MAIN problem which is the introduction of a sweet citrusy liquid for 2.5 hours 7 days a week. But you know ... deaf ears, falling, yada yada, haha!
Thank you in advance! (Side note, I have some PURE monk fruit sweetener but just haven't nailed the right ratio. This stuff is NOT the mixture of monk fruit and erithyritol or whateve,r it's PURE. A bit hard to find and just slightly cheaper than Merck pharmaceutical cocaine but if anyone has used this and can chime in with some advice, that would be bonus points)
My wife and I are 58 & 59. Super health conscious (same height, weight, blood pressure and resting pulse as the day I graduated high school.) EXCEPT we drink 2 seven ounce margaritas each day while we play board / card games together. Our "Happy Hour". We are loathe to even given this routine up for one day. We've been doing it since 2001 and have "coming to Jesus" conversations regularly if we find we "BS'd" one or the other into having "just a half drink more today, because...". So rationalizations aside, my wife is meticulous about her teeth and hasn't had any changes yet. I brush 3x day, floss every other day BUT have VERY crooked teeth. I really should've had braces. But also have deep pockets, which I have improved markedly through flossing (pockets are a handful of 4's and one 5, and then 222-232 etc from there).
So my hygienist discovered 2 small cavities yesterday at me 4 months visit (because of previous gum disease, they insist on 3-4 visits per year). She was also curious about a thinning of enamel in a couple of spots and asked if I'd been drinking anything sweet on a regular basis. We make our own margaritas, 100%, and each batch I lower the sugar (evaporated cane juice) to see how low we can go before we start puckering. So when I told her about our Margarita habit she first advised, "don't spend much time. Down the hatch, get it done." And of course...that's terrible advice all round except perhaps for enamel health. Her reasoning being the "cavity zone" (low ph environment) that's created by immersion in sugary substances. I immeidately asked, "Ok, outside of changing our habit, what after care can I do?" and her reply was first, to wait 30 minutes after. Apparently DURING this low ph phase, it's not "best practice" to brush because the enamel is a bit softer and more vulnerable. So we started last doing the following: Happy hour 2.30-5. Dinner 5.15 (always a salad), TV and talk 5.45 to 6.30. Then we go our separate ways until 8.30 bed time. But before we go separate ways, we brush well, and use flouride mouthwash, then no more food utnil breakfast. Does this sound like a sound "compromise?" Again, we're not in the same boat. I'll always be more vulnerable. I had gum disease, and brutally crooked teeth. My wife is 58 with perfect teeth and never a cavity. (I have 5-7 lifetime, so not horrible but still.)
Love to get your feedback. You're of course welcome to focus on the MAIN problem which is the introduction of a sweet citrusy liquid for 2.5 hours 7 days a week. But you know ... deaf ears, falling, yada yada, haha!
Thank you in advance! (Side note, I have some PURE monk fruit sweetener but just haven't nailed the right ratio. This stuff is NOT the mixture of monk fruit and erithyritol or whateve,r it's PURE. A bit hard to find and just slightly cheaper than Merck pharmaceutical cocaine but if anyone has used this and can chime in with some advice, that would be bonus points)