(Another Gaia blog oldie) --
Today I cleaned my teeth using a small, soft-bristled traveling toothbrush and Tom's of Maine toothpaste. My "regular" toothbrush needs replacing, as I can see brownish crud forming at the bottom of its bristles - and since my traveling toothbrush is relatively new, it's definitely cleaner.
I concentrate on the back teeth, brushing near the gum line, using circular motions as well as up-and-down and across-the-surface-of the teeth strokes. These are the teeth that will eventually give me the most trouble, the dental hygienist tersely warns me. For the last several years, I have been fighting periodontal disease, and I've been told that I (along with a majority of adults my age) have got problematic "pockets." Pockets occur when the gum itself starts receding from the surface of the tooth, creating a space where bacteria and plaque and tartar can gather and "eat" further away at the gum, thereby deepening the pockets. Pockets that are one or two millimeters deep are normal, threes are okay but need to be watched, fours are in the warning zone, and fives and beyond mean you're heading into a more serious case of gum disease. My front teeth are at the two or three level, but the back teeth have lots of fours and fives. Flossing helps to slow down the progression of the disease, and allegedly, good home care can keep everything at bay.
So what is good home care? Brushing twice a day - for at least four minutes each time - and, of course, flossing. Additional home exercises include using a dental stimulator along the gumline, to prevent plaque from gathering. But seeing as it took me nearly 40 years before I started flossing properly and consistently, the dental stimulator trick will have to wait a while. At the moment I'm concentrating on the consistency of four minutes in the morning and evening, plus flossing.
I've gotten to the point where I need to have a deep cleaning performed by a hygienist every 3 months (most folks need a regular cleaning every 6 months). A deep cleaning includes scaling and root planing - mild forms of torture involving sharp metal pointy instruments digging the bacterial crud away from the bottom of the gum pockets. When I've been neglectful, novocaine will be required for me to be able to tolerate the stabbing of my gums and the scraping of my enamel. But when I've been good, I can get by with just a minor amount of blood and gore and no novocaine.
I always leave the hygienist appointment with the best of intentions. I've got an electric toothbrush that brushes for two minutes at a time, then I do a thorough flossing. I top it all off with two minutes (timed with an egg timer) of brushing with a regular toothbrush, and end it with a fluoride rinse. All of this, twice a day.
For perhaps the first two weeks after the deep cleaning, I'm impeccable about all of this. I tell myself that it's part of my spiritual practice - it's an act of tender loving care for my changing, aging body. By practicing the yoga of brushing twice a day, I enhance my chances for overall health, meaning that I will be more available to help create the conditions that lead to health for others. Loving myself for the benefit of the greater Self: God and neighbor.
But eventually my cleansing enthusiasm begins to wane. I simply start forgetting to do it twice a day - or I begin to have busy days where I feel like I just don't have the time to take 10 minutes out of my life to improve my dental health. I start to rationalize: I have the deep cleanings every three months anyway, right? Certainly those should cover the days when I don't do the twice-daily brushing, or the evenings when I'm too tired to floss. And before I know it, I'm down to brushing my teeth once a day for about two minutes, followed by a rushed flossing.
I'm telling you: this worries me. Do I feel I'm not good enough to take just 10 minutes every day to improve my health? It's such a small act of love, a tiny simple thing to do, a very caring and non-taxing exercise. And doesn't love really manifest itself in repeated actions and in persistent cycles? The turning of the earth, which brings needed sunlight to us daily. The plants that die even as they release seeds, which will sprout and grow and provide beauty or nectar or food for insects, animals, and humans. The mother who consistently answers the child's cries for milk or caresses or warmth. The body's daily surrender to sleep, and the awakening and energy that follows rest. The beating of the heart. The inhalation and the exhalation, each breath necessary, all a part of a cycle that often takes place without our being aware of it. Such is love: the very rhythms of life, the neverending dance, the unstoppable outreaching and stretching and circling of the cosmos.
But love, for humans, also emerges as an act of the will, a choice. And therein lies my problem. I want my toothbrushing to be as seemingly effortless as the rising of the sun and the changing of the seasons. I want it to just "happen," for it to be so embedded in the routines of my day that I don't even have to remind myself to do it. But not everything is as easy and instinctual as breathing. Certain repeated acts require conscious persistence, method, discipline, tiny movements of the will. Over the course of time, they can become relatively automatic, not requiring much effort or self-conscious action. But at the beginning of any choice for love, be it the brushing of teeth, voting, feeding one's family, being present to a downtrodden friend, taking time to pray, visiting the dying - the will must make and act on a certain decision, again and again and again.
Spirit ever patient, strengthen my will. Grant me the grace to keep making that choice for love - even in the smallest and most innocuous routines of my daily life. For I suspect that these miniscule "love exercises" generate spiritual vigor - and eventually enable us to manifest your Love with greater frequency and less hesitation. May the flow of your Love not be blocked by the weakness or laziness of my sluggish will, Eternal One. And as always, lend me patience with my failures! Such is also a lesson in love...
(Oh--and when You have the time and inclination, maybe zing some creative chemist out there with some inspiration towards some wintergreen-flavored fluoride rinse. M'kay? Muchas gracias!)
--December 30, 2006 Gaia blog
Today I cleaned my teeth using a small, soft-bristled traveling toothbrush and Tom's of Maine toothpaste. My "regular" toothbrush needs replacing, as I can see brownish crud forming at the bottom of its bristles - and since my traveling toothbrush is relatively new, it's definitely cleaner.
I concentrate on the back teeth, brushing near the gum line, using circular motions as well as up-and-down and across-the-surface-of the teeth strokes. These are the teeth that will eventually give me the most trouble, the dental hygienist tersely warns me. For the last several years, I have been fighting periodontal disease, and I've been told that I (along with a majority of adults my age) have got problematic "pockets." Pockets occur when the gum itself starts receding from the surface of the tooth, creating a space where bacteria and plaque and tartar can gather and "eat" further away at the gum, thereby deepening the pockets. Pockets that are one or two millimeters deep are normal, threes are okay but need to be watched, fours are in the warning zone, and fives and beyond mean you're heading into a more serious case of gum disease. My front teeth are at the two or three level, but the back teeth have lots of fours and fives. Flossing helps to slow down the progression of the disease, and allegedly, good home care can keep everything at bay.
So what is good home care? Brushing twice a day - for at least four minutes each time - and, of course, flossing. Additional home exercises include using a dental stimulator along the gumline, to prevent plaque from gathering. But seeing as it took me nearly 40 years before I started flossing properly and consistently, the dental stimulator trick will have to wait a while. At the moment I'm concentrating on the consistency of four minutes in the morning and evening, plus flossing.
I've gotten to the point where I need to have a deep cleaning performed by a hygienist every 3 months (most folks need a regular cleaning every 6 months). A deep cleaning includes scaling and root planing - mild forms of torture involving sharp metal pointy instruments digging the bacterial crud away from the bottom of the gum pockets. When I've been neglectful, novocaine will be required for me to be able to tolerate the stabbing of my gums and the scraping of my enamel. But when I've been good, I can get by with just a minor amount of blood and gore and no novocaine.
I always leave the hygienist appointment with the best of intentions. I've got an electric toothbrush that brushes for two minutes at a time, then I do a thorough flossing. I top it all off with two minutes (timed with an egg timer) of brushing with a regular toothbrush, and end it with a fluoride rinse. All of this, twice a day.
For perhaps the first two weeks after the deep cleaning, I'm impeccable about all of this. I tell myself that it's part of my spiritual practice - it's an act of tender loving care for my changing, aging body. By practicing the yoga of brushing twice a day, I enhance my chances for overall health, meaning that I will be more available to help create the conditions that lead to health for others. Loving myself for the benefit of the greater Self: God and neighbor.
But eventually my cleansing enthusiasm begins to wane. I simply start forgetting to do it twice a day - or I begin to have busy days where I feel like I just don't have the time to take 10 minutes out of my life to improve my dental health. I start to rationalize: I have the deep cleanings every three months anyway, right? Certainly those should cover the days when I don't do the twice-daily brushing, or the evenings when I'm too tired to floss. And before I know it, I'm down to brushing my teeth once a day for about two minutes, followed by a rushed flossing.
I'm telling you: this worries me. Do I feel I'm not good enough to take just 10 minutes every day to improve my health? It's such a small act of love, a tiny simple thing to do, a very caring and non-taxing exercise. And doesn't love really manifest itself in repeated actions and in persistent cycles? The turning of the earth, which brings needed sunlight to us daily. The plants that die even as they release seeds, which will sprout and grow and provide beauty or nectar or food for insects, animals, and humans. The mother who consistently answers the child's cries for milk or caresses or warmth. The body's daily surrender to sleep, and the awakening and energy that follows rest. The beating of the heart. The inhalation and the exhalation, each breath necessary, all a part of a cycle that often takes place without our being aware of it. Such is love: the very rhythms of life, the neverending dance, the unstoppable outreaching and stretching and circling of the cosmos.
But love, for humans, also emerges as an act of the will, a choice. And therein lies my problem. I want my toothbrushing to be as seemingly effortless as the rising of the sun and the changing of the seasons. I want it to just "happen," for it to be so embedded in the routines of my day that I don't even have to remind myself to do it. But not everything is as easy and instinctual as breathing. Certain repeated acts require conscious persistence, method, discipline, tiny movements of the will. Over the course of time, they can become relatively automatic, not requiring much effort or self-conscious action. But at the beginning of any choice for love, be it the brushing of teeth, voting, feeding one's family, being present to a downtrodden friend, taking time to pray, visiting the dying - the will must make and act on a certain decision, again and again and again.
Spirit ever patient, strengthen my will. Grant me the grace to keep making that choice for love - even in the smallest and most innocuous routines of my daily life. For I suspect that these miniscule "love exercises" generate spiritual vigor - and eventually enable us to manifest your Love with greater frequency and less hesitation. May the flow of your Love not be blocked by the weakness or laziness of my sluggish will, Eternal One. And as always, lend me patience with my failures! Such is also a lesson in love...
(Oh--and when You have the time and inclination, maybe zing some creative chemist out there with some inspiration towards some wintergreen-flavored fluoride rinse. M'kay? Muchas gracias!)
--December 30, 2006 Gaia blog
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