Dental discount plan vs. new dental patient special

I'm sorry, I can't help you - but let me give you a couple poor person's tips for dental hygene (note - may not be advocated by dentists):

A high concentration flouride toothpaste once a day can stop cavities. I think this must be prescribed by a dentist - it's a special paste. If you can't get this get the highest flouride content over the counter paste you can buy. Sometimes I'll just dab a tiny bit of it right onto the cavity and let it sit there for awhile.
Flossing once a day can prevent in-between-teeth cavities, which are a pain to fill. They even sell flouride covered dental floss now! I also like tooth scraping w/ a fingernail. Gets the plaque right off.

For future reference, cavities start to form around 20 minutes after eating sugars. So, if you can, it's a good idea to brush right after that soda or candy bar, or just cut them out of your diet. Sucking on hard candy or sipping sweet tea is a bad idea.

You can identify a cavity by sticking a pin into it - if it hurts and the pin sticks (doesn't pull out easily) it's a cavity. Take precautions not to bite off your own hand.

eesh! The thought of sticking a pin into a cavity sends shivers down my spine. Thanks for the tips Portal!

It's a really, really bad idea to do anything but fill cavities. I understand the poor person's perspective part, I've been there, but I also have read a ton on the subject when we had a scare with my daughter (just had her 6th post-filling checkup, still no cavities, whoo-hoo!), and you just gotta get it taken care of. It has to do with things like bone loss, osteoporosis, bad non-tooth stuff like that, as well as the fact that there is just no way to contain the s. mutans if they are there. Have one cavity, you'll keep getting more.

Beg, borrow, steal, but get it taken care of.

Yeah, soz, you're right. I sent an online request for an appointment with the 'new patient special' office. For June.

Good on ya, 'k.

You may not even have cavities, of course. I had some alarming spots that turned out to just be stains -- and I never drink coffee, almost never tea, and don't smoke! Just gettin' old. Sigh.

Maybe I should see what it'll cost to get dental added to my health ins. Maybe go that route for a couple years - or until I feel I've caught up.