I always assumed it was helpful to get the gunk off of your teeth so the hygienist doesn’t have to spend an extra minute or two with you. The less time I’m forced to keep my mouth open, the better. My lips get chapped, my tongue goes dry, I’m bored. It serves utilitarian function
Unethical lifehack: if you start flossing every day about a week before your appointment, you'll be indistinguishable from someone who actually flosses regularly.
If you don't brush before going to the dentist then I'm going to assume you're a sociopath
I go to the dermatologist every six months and they have to look at my entire body every time, I take extra care to be clean and smell neutral or faintly nice. Unless that one time I had to go by bike bugy that was outside my control. I feel pretty self conscious at those times.
Same goes for the dentist, I take extra care weeks in advance when I know an appointment is coming up. If you have stuff in between your teeth a brush won't reach, one quick brush before the appointment has as much effect as taking a breath mint.
I mean, I schedule my dentist appointments at the end of my work day. So I guess I'm a sociopath.
You can take a toothbrush to work...
Taking a toothbrush and tooth paste to work with you just to brush before going to the dentist, who is going to then clean my teeth anyway, seems far stranger to me.
The dentist is cleaning the buildup and checking for issues, not doing one of your daily brushings.
I never said it replaced my daily brushing. Just that I do not specifically brush before going to the dentist and that bringing the gear to do so to work would be weird to me.
My dentist has never complained about my mouth when I've gone in. I've got an appointment in a few weeks in fact and I'll make a point to tell her snooggums knows better.
I started brushing before going and the visit takes less time now. And I get less of the "hygienist-induced gingivitis" (my phrase for soreness after they poke around in there) so it's a win for me. It also feels more polite not to be breathing my lunch at them. But it's your mouth, you do what you like.
I don't eat anything prior to a dentist visit. So the last things on my mouth would have been tooth paste that morning and water all day.
You know how you wake up after a night's sleep and your mouth smells and tastes like shit even though you didn't eat anything when you slept? That's the same thing after not eating through the day. It's not just the food you eat that affects your breath.
Why? I'm paying for them to do it. You don't crank one out before getting a happy ending.
I think a closer analogy would be more like "I don't shower before I ask a hooker to tongue blast my fudge machine"
also got to look pretty for the colonoscopy appointments
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.