the way i need to look at this, i think, is not that i've failed at dental hygiene because i need the attention of a dentist, but rather that anything that is put into my mouth is an improvement over a system that is insufficiently evolved to last into middle age.

i shouldn't be hard on myself.

i think i did everything right....

it just doesn't matter: your teeth are going to eventually require attention, no matter how well you take care of them.

it's not a fail, it's an improvement. i just need to keep telling myself that.