I just turned 48 this week, and believe it or not, I have
only been to the dentist _three_ times in my life; twice
in the fall of 1966 (one molar pulled, and its counterpart
on the other side had a large filling put in 7 days later,
which is still there btw), and once in March of 1975 (one
filling).  My teeth are not gross or ugly at all, as might
be expected, and my gums are not receding and appear to be in good
shape too.  I have always been a brushing fanatic almost.

One thing that has always made me wonder about the wisdom
that says one should go for regular visits is that when I
last visited the dentist (THIRTY years ago next month),
the guy told me that I needed to come back the next week
and get a filling in another tooth.  The only thing I could
see with the tooth was what looked like a little whitish crack
or line on it (is this how decay begins?).  Anyway, now, thirty
years later, that little white line is still there, and has
remained UNchanged (or even gotten smaller) over all these
years.  If I had returned at that time and had him drill and
put a filling in the tooth, I feel now that that would've been
unwise in the long term, considering that drilling and filling
weakens teeth, yes?  BOTH of my teeth that have been filled have
chipped over the years.  None of the others have.

However, it appears that I may have to return to a dentist
for a little visit.  The molar that has the 38+ year-old filling,
or the tooth behind it, is starting to cause mild pain that can
come and go by the minute.  I can't tell which tooth is causing
the problem, but the one behind the filled one has a smallish,
dark cavity on the side that I have been aware of for over 20
years.

One reason I avoid the dental visits (other than the fact that
my teeth have never given me trouble) is that nowadays, they
want to do a whole series of x-rays and perhaps do more than
is actually needed, which is common in other fields as well.
I've paid for dental coverage for years and never used it,
but I don't like the idea of having a lot of unnecessay stuff
done, and I feel that many dentists would try to pressure me
in this way, considering my lack of visits in the past, and
my ignorance of the subject.  Am I right?  My philosophy is
to keep as much of my original teeth as possible, with minimal
alteration of them.  I feel this way about my other body parts
as well.  As I asked before, doesn't dental work weaken teeth?
Back in the old days when I went to dentists, they just did
what needed to be done to solve the problems at hand: cavities
were filled, and too-far-gone teeth were pulled.  But it
doesn't appear to be that way today.

Now, a question for any dentists who may read this:  This may
be a stupid question, but as I've said, I know nothing about
the subject.  As I said, when I was nine years old, I had a molar
pulled; its counterpart on the other side was filled.  But instead
of being one tooth short on the side where the extraction was done, I
still have the same number of teeth on either side of my lower jaw
(seven), which gives me of course 14 total on the lower jaw.
(For some reason, I never had the full set of 32 teeth.)
The surprising thing is that *another* tooth grew very near
to where the molar was extracted.  It does NOT have a counterpart
on the other side.  Is this normal, and do I just look stupid, or
was this unusual?

Enough rambling I guess.  Any good feedback anxiously awaited!

--
Otis