Working With My Dentist
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Working With My Dentist

A few years ago, I realized that I was thinking about dental care all wrong. Instead of listening carefully to my dentist and making the necessary changes, I assumed that he was ultimately responsible for making sure that my teeth stayed healthy. Unfortunately, I developed a few serious cavities because I failed to properly brush and floss my teeth, and I knew that it was my fault. I decided to start taking notes at my dental checkups and carefully abiding by the dentist's orders. The difference was almost miraculous. This blog is all about working with your dentist to improve your result.

Working With My Dentist

Training For A New Career? 2 Careers That Require A Healthy Smile

Siiri Puro

If you have been busy training to enter a new career field, then you know how stressful it can be to make a big change in your life. However, don't let that stress impact your oral health. It can be all too easy to munch on sugary candy while studying for tests and skip brushing your teeth before bed after a late-night study session. When you enter any new career field, you want a pearly white smile that you can display proudly during those interviews and when working with new clients. However, if you are soon entering one of the following two career fields, it is very important to have any oral health problems taken care of by your dentist before you start and care for your teeth well while employed in the field. 

1. Commercial Scuba Diver 

If you will soon be taking scuba diving classes in order to fulfill your dream of becoming a commercial diver who specializes in underwater photography, welding, construction, or one of the many other underwater careers commercial divers are needed for, then it is very important to visit your dentist before you begin your diving lessons (or now if you have already begun them). 

As you may have already learned during your scuba diving instruction, atmospheric pressure fluctuates while underwater, depending on how deep you are underneath water. This pressure fluctuation can lead to oral health problems of all types, including tooth pain, jaw pain, and even gum pain, which studies show that 41-percent of scuba divers experience at some point during their careers. 

However, many of these dental problems can be avoided by taking great care of your teeth, starting right now. Before you begin your career, visit a dentist for dental x-rays that can detect any oral health problems that need to be addressed before you begin your career. It is most important to have any current cavities filled and, of course, if you need a root canal, get that taken care of before you are underwater and develop extreme dental pain. 

Once your current dental problems are taken care of, visit your dentist every six months for those important check-ups and avoid clenching your jaw around the air regulator in your mouth too tightly, which is a bad habit that can contribute to jaw pain in many divers. 

2. Flight Attendant or Pilot

If you are finally fulfilling your dream of becoming a flight attendant or licensed pilot, then you also need to have any current dental problems treated before you begin your career. Just as atmospheric pressure fluctuates underwater, it also fluctuates greatly inside of an airplane. While the two most dramatic fluctuations occur when a plane is ascending during take-off and descending while landing, there are also frequent fluctuations while the plane is soaring through the air at high altitudes. 

Thankfully, you don't have to hold any special apparatus in your mouth during your career, as a scuba diver does, so once your career begins, you simply need to make sure you visit your dentist every six months to have any oral health problems addressed and maintain a good everyday oral hygiene routine. 

However, before you begin flying, it is important to have any cavities you have filled and any root canals needed performed; any holes you have in your teeth while flying, no matter how small, will fill up with pressurized air, and this could lead to very intense tooth pain during your flight. If you are a pilot, this pain could detract you from your job and cause a serious hazard. If you are a flight attendant, this pain could lead to you not being able to smile during your first flight when you want to really showcase your great customer service skills to that new employer. 

Training to enter a new career field is always tough, but don't let the stress lead to you neglecting to take proper care of your teeth, especially if you are entering one of these two career fields. If you are training to become a commercial scuba diver, flight attendant, or pilot, then visit your dentist for a full dental exam and have any cavities filled before they cause intense pain while underwater or in the air.

Contact a dentist for more information and to continue reading more about the importance of your dental health. 


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