Oct 23, 2020 | LIFE | By Ky-Leigh Boyland | Illustration by Jubilee Rivera-Hernandez
Pearly white teeth are the dream, but let’s face it: we’re normal people, and normal people don’t have sparkling teeth. If you’re like me, you’ve gone more than a year without going to the dentist.
When I was younger, I neglected them; I hardly brushed my teeth as a child. However, over the years, I have grown to obsess and fester about the state of my teeth. I lived with a guardian who didn’t care for my health appointments, so every week, paranoia would creep in.
Moving to Colorado Springs for school, I told myself that the first thing I was going to do was find a dentist. I didn’t care about healthcare, gynecologists, nothing — my sole priority was finding a dentist.
I hate the dentist. I hate the grinding of their picks on my teeth, the taste of the flavored paste, and the smell of metal. However, I have never been happier than when I made my appointment at Mountain Shadows Dentistry.
First off, the building is adorable and everyone there is welcoming and friendly. It’s a small dentistry with only four workers: one dentist, one assistant, one cleaner, and one desk worker.
I don’t know what it is about businesses in Colorado, but just like the haircut appointment I had prior to this, they all knew what they were talking about. I had tons of questions, and they answered them and did things I wish dentists in Illinois did.
The first new thing they did was check my gum inflammation. This bewildered me because no one else had done it. They took a tool with a leveling system and measured my gums with it. The lower the number, the better.
Being paranoid, I was ready to hear bad numbers, but, surprisingly, my gums ranged between one and four, which was good compared to seven to 10. The fact that this dentistry was able to tell me the level of my gum inflammation was astounding. It actually relieved some of my paranoia.
To accompany this, they took a pick and chipped away at all of the plaque along my gums. I had a lot; pieces were flying out of my mouth. Thereafter, I could feel the ridges of my teeth. It felt like there was a hole behind my teeth, but it was my normal teeth without a smooth layer of plaque.
The whole experience was weird, and the paste they used tasted nasty, but I have never wanted to go back to a dentist in my life before now.
Not only did they help relieve some of my paranoia and help my teeth in ways other dentists haven’t, but they also sent me a Chick-fil-A gift card in the mail to thank me for visiting them.
Thanks to the Mountain Shadows Dentistry, I have gained a sense of relief and have developed a newfound love for Chick-fil-A. It was a win-win in my book and well worth the year-and-a-half wait.