Working at 1-800-DENTIST®,
I am often asked to recommend electric
toothbrushes and other dental
products. But a friend recently complimented me on my smile and asked for
some dental care tips.
I was flattered to be giving out advice. Looking back at how I’ve ended up with
such amazing oral
hygiene habits took me back a bit …
My oral hygiene routine stems from a couple of
incredibly mean parents who made sure I brushed
and flossed
properly on a daily basis. They literally stood there like they had nothing
better to do while I begrudgingly brushed my teeth. All of them. For like, two
whole minutes, which felt like forever.
And they totally used fear tactics to get me to
brush. Of course I was always hearing things like, “Good boys and girls brush
their teeth every day.” And knowing you had to be good to get a yearly visit
from Santa, I obliged.
If you’re interested, I’m still in therapy.
Now that I work at 1-800-DENTIST (talk about karma),
good oral hygiene has become even more important. Of course, there’s still A
LOT of guilt there.
Can you imagine sitting at your cubicle when Fred Joyal, the
face of our national TV commercials, walks by? Do I really want to be the only one
who looks like I just don’t care? Instead of the fear of Santa, it’s now
because of the fear of Fred that I take extra special care of my smile.
For my friend, it’s the fear of massive dental
problems that got his attention. Of course, discussing bad oral
habits eventually lead to a discussion of the painful – and expensive -
problems one inevitably faces when they don’t take care of their smile,
including cavities,
gum
disease, root canals
and missing
teeth.
I was pretty proud of myself when my friend told me
that my dental care tips actually got him to change his oral hygiene habits. Guess
I can look forward to that visit from Santa this year! Fred would be proud.