Looks like oral piercing is the latest youth rebellion without a clue. As they used to say, this is your dental health on hormones. If your kid has a tongue or lip ring, his or her fear of the dentist could be justified.

There are things you should never experience. These are things I have done so you will not have to. Writing about dentistry is the obvious one. There are many others I cannot discuss without getting your “have the guts to know” insecurity clearance. This story will dissect an occurrence the faint of heart should avoid. And just to put you further towards the edge of your seat, this is about modern dental care.

It all started with a recommendation from my children’s dentist. See how seemingly unremarkable these things can start out. The pediatric dentist, a normally trustworthy fellow, told my wife that our children, two beautiful angels, should use an electric toothbrush to clean their teeth. The total banality of this event is almost staggering in its ability to throw you off its frightening potential.

While they have regularly brushed their teeth over the years, it is more difficult to get them to do it correctly, and more importantly for a long enough period of time. Dental health is very important topic in our family: it is a secret I feel comfortable in telling you now. Hiding it for these many web blogs - has taxed my conscience. Forgive me for my lack of candor in the past.

That said, the nightmare continues. Feel the tension? Palpable. Anyway, we go to the local electric toothbrush outlet mall to purchase one of these puppies of dental care modernity. The cost was not insignificant, but the Gap in teeth store had a nice khaki with a tasteful mint floss belt accessory. Obviously, my family is hip with the dental set and has got some serious dental freaky going on…

Not sure where that was going, but as kids do, they came home very excited about their new dental acquisition. Most importantly, they were excited to be on the road to better dental health. Sadly, this would be short-lived. Their father, a resolute and honorable person in most dental cases, had already opened the trapdoor to dental care hell and did not even know it.

Are more people brushing their teeth or going to the dentist? Do we do anything better or different than what our parents did besides suck down fluoride? Do we force our kids to the go to the dentist, but don't improve our dentistry? There are many reasons for this (money, time, fear) but often it is just that we are mired in old habits, get little inspiration, and have a lack of awareness of new treatments.

Maybe the dental conversation should be approached differently: inspire us to enhance and upgrade. Otherwise we consumers will keep thinking of dentistry in the old ways and do nothing or less. What if DAD got involved?