When I was younger, I would always have cavities — a lot of them. What can I say … I loved candy, chocolates, anything sweet! I was traumatized by my childhood experiences of going through the painful drilling and filling. I still have nightmares. So as a responsible adult, I REALLY take care of my teeth because I hate going to the dentist — e.g., brush three times a day, floss twice a day, go get my teeth cleaned twice a year and get it checked annually. Even with all of that, I still have problems with my teeth (receding gum line, occasional cavity, cracked tooth, etc).

So, you can only imagine how annoyed I was when my husband, who doesn’t take care of his teeth as religiously as I do, came home after his dental check up (the last time he went to the dentist was three years ago) announcing how he didn’t have a single cavity. He was so smug about it, saying: “Hey, you do all that with your teeth and ha ha, I don’t do half of that, and can you believe it? No CAVITY!!”

Hmm … what did I do in response? I immediately texted my dentist (yeah, she is on speed-dial). I texted her saying: How can that be? Life is not fair, he doesn’t take care of his teeth at all, why do I have this problem??!! My dentist is great — she is the first dentist that I have had who has become a good friend because she puts up with my crap. I’ve been seeing her for 12 years. I love her because when I see her, she knows how afraid I am of drills and needles, so she always takes it nice and slow with me (explaining everything that she is doing step by step) and on top of that, she gives me cotton flavored laughing gas — the stuff is excellent, you get all giddy and it relaxes you. I also get to watch a DVD from the TV on the ceiling and since I always schedule my appointment to be her last appointment of the day, we plan to go for a drink after she has fixed my teeth — great incentive (after the pain, a glass of wine)!

In response to my diatribe about my husband boasting about his teeth, she said, “He may not have cavities, but, hey, you should be happy because at least have pearly white teeth!” Which is true, my husband’s teeth are not as white as mine.

With all the actors and actresses with gleaming white teeth, it is no wonder that everyone wants pearly white teeth (although some actors teeth are so white, they almost glow in the dark). Yellow teeth can make you look older, so as we get older, we need to try our best to keep them as white as possible.

How do you go about getting them? Some options are:

1. Use tooth whitening paste daily and stay away from smoking, coffee and red wine — I use Colgate tooth whitening paste, but I refuse to give up my coffee and wine!! There is no way …

2. Try bleaching them professionally — I’ve tried Zoom a few times. It has to be done at a dental office. They first protect your gums and then they apply bleaching agent to your teeth before they place the overhead UV lamp over your teeth. The UV light breaks down the activated gel and really whitens your teeth. It definitely works, but it was painful when I did it. It made my teeth sensitive for a few days afterwards.

3. Veneers — that is what most actors use. They are expensive and if you have protruding front teeth, then these will make your teeth protrude even more. Even though they shave your teeth beforehand, you can’t shave too much otherwise, it can permanently damage your real teeth. Also, if you grind your teeth, you can’t have veneers. They are irreversible. Meaning that if your veneers fall off later on, you have to replace them since your teeth were most likely reduced to place the veneers.

The one thing that I did that I’m glad I did was Invisalign. They helped straighten my teeth in one year and no one noticed because the aligners are clear, so people don’t really notice them like they do with braces.

So, yes, I get the occasional cavities, but like my dentist said, “I’ve got pearly white, fairly straight teeth”!