“Do you see this?” my dentist said, pointing a scaler to a section of my gums that was popping out between two teeth. “Yeah,” I said nonchalantly, looking into the mirror he handed me. My gums had been bleeding severely in March of last year, but before I could get them checked, India went into total lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It took me until the first week of November to walk into a dental clinic. The gum infection had understandably worsened.
The dentist said I might need a surgical procedure to fix the problem. To begin with, he recommended a rigorous oral hygiene routine — massaging my gums with an ointment and rinsing my teeth with a prescription mouthwash — that I diligently followed. When I returned for my follow up three weeks later, my gums had healed so well the dentist ruled out surgery.
I wondered if an intervention that my therapist had introduced me to played a role in my astonishing recovery. At her behest, I had reluctantly started using affirmations in 2019. But, frankly, I found it too woo-woo at the time — and gave up. Lying to myself, “I remain healthy,” when I clearly wasn’t, seemed appalling.
