Welcome to Running: A FEVER. My name is Michael Davis. This is a podcast about fitness, diet, and medicine. My goal is to live a long, healthy, happy, active life right up to the very end. I just want to love my life enough to make it last as long as possible.

We’re at part 8 of our series on dental health. So far, we’ve covered six topics in some detail. First, we discussed dry mouth, diet, biofilm, genetics, pH, and the action step of protection. Now, we move on to planning.

Hopefully you can see that this series aligns with my philosophy of becoming an expert at your own health. You’ll need to tap into that philosophy to build your health plan. Some of the answers you’ll know from experience. For example, you have dry mouth or take some medications that can cause it. However, you may have to talk with your dentist or hygienist about the many other risk factors you could have. You can use this series as a guide. Go back and listen to (or read the blog posts of) the other episodes in the series. Make a list of the problems that could apply to you. Ask your dentist about them. But first, ask yourself some questions about them.

Here are some questions you’ll want to ask to make your plan.

Question 1. What is the first risk factor you want to focus on changing? You may have multiple risks, but first put your efforts into one of these, then repeat the process for the others.

Question 2. How has this problem affected your life? If you’re going to prioritize the work that needs to be done, you may want to address the most harmful ones first.

Question 3. What protective strategies can you use to combat this problem or risk? Make a list. Then, go back and read the blogs for suggestions, especially episode 376 on protection.

Question 4. What do you think you should do? It’s time to be decisive and choose the direction in which you should go. You don’t have to do this alone. Discuss this with your family and medical professionals to prioritize preventative and restorative care.

Question 5. What are the potential obstacles to your success? Hopefully, there are none. However, you may need to make lifestyle changes to treat disease, which are always difficult. Other factors may hold you back. List them here.

Question 6. How can you overcome or go around these obstacles? You’re not Superman, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. So, you’ll need to be smart and think of ways to change your lifestyle or find solutions to the other things that might get in the way.

Question 7. Look at the list of solutions above. What will you do first? What’s the first thing in your plan you aim to do?

Question 8. How can your dental professional help you reach your goal? You know I believe in using medical professionals and not being afraid of them. How important is your health to you? Enough to swallow your pride and ask for help?

I thought this episode might be my shortest, but then I looked back at episode zero, which is only 52 seconds. It turns out I’m a lot more wordy than I thought. Still, I hope this short quiz will help you take action to make some real changes and get healthier.

I hope you enjoyed this. As always, if you’ve got the fever, keep it burning. If you don’t, catch the fever. And I’ll see you next time on Running: A FEVER.

Reference:
Kutsch, V. Kim. Why Me? The unfair reason you get cavities and what to do about it. Anacortes, Washington: Soapbox Publishing, 2020.