caroline2, not seeing a dentist in 10 years strikes me as unwise.

Years ago I couldn't be bothered with dentists and so I didn't go to one. Nothing seemed to be wrong with my teeth anyway. Then I developed a twinge of pain in one spot but it would always go away.

No big deal, I figured. After all, it was going away, wasn't it?

So for a year I ignored it.

Then one day I did go to a dentist. I knew I should have been doing that regularly and decided to check in.

I had a badly abscessed tooth that had been causing those pain twinges. The dentist's comment when he learned that I'd had the twinges for a year was, "I wish you'd come in a year ago."

I had several root canal treatments that were sheer torture. Since then I've had several other root canals but they were a piece of cake compared to that one.

Then I had to have a crown on that tooth. Big expense there.

A couple of years later I lost the tooth anyway. The dentist said, "It was a root canal that failed. It happens sometimes."

Why not check in with a good dentist just to be on the safe side?