behind the lines - debut ramble

Join me! I of course, have no idea what I'm doing

My goodness, are you lost? Did you actively come here to read this? The millennial in me has been so bereft since the death of tumblr, so this resurrection of my ramble pocket on the internet was inevitable really. Welcome! And please bear with me as I clear the cobwebs from my thoughts.

The boring housekeeping of it all - I’m a dentist that loves her job but has noticed for a while now the rise in people coming in with crazy signs of stress. Of course, their ground down teeth - but also increased forehead and crease lines, neck pain, generalised anxiety, getting sick more than ever before and more commonly, crazy jaw pain. Sometimes this jaw pain seems to limit mouth opening - and that’s when I knew it was time to do something. Because what woman would I be, to sit by and not aid women in their god given right to yap?

Of course, through 7 years of dental training we learn about the anatomy of the face in all it’s glory, and therefore are often a first line of defence for people who have chronic night teeth grinding or jaw clenching. But it was just becoming far too common that people had nightguards thrown at them and unsurprisingly, the tension sometimes stuck around. Now there could be a myriad of health reasons for this of course, and this isn’t webMD, but what bothered me most of all is there didn’t seem to be a space to slow down and figure out some more layered solutions. *cue me*

So I did the further study, the little coursera Yale courses about sleep and stress and learnt that knowledge truly is only half the battle.

So I went and got myself qualified to provide botulinum toxin treatments (botox) and have learnt of the incredible work it can do - for my jaw clenchers and grinders of course but also those stress lines all over the face. I’m even hoping to launch my own independent space to make this a more affordable treatment choice (LINELESS). But it’s still not a whole solution - really just an aid.

In combination with being model humans with our 8hrs of sleep and daily exercise and fibre - I’ve learnt that being able to talk about our stress, making light of our first world catastrophes and unpacking our silly tension is one of the privileges of being human. And I realised I’m spoilt to be surrounded by humans who are so brilliant, bright and curious and most of all, love a chat.

So I introduce to you behind the lines - the frivolous baby sister to my botulinum toxin clinics - a fun recommendation and chatty series about all of the things that stress us girlies out.