How Porn Addiction is like a Tooth Cavity (Plus Dental x Porn Addiction Recovery Tips)

Last year I went to see the dentist a few times mostly to get some fillers for my cavities...I had a lot of cavities, which meant a lot of toothaching expenses (be sure to have a good amount of health insurance before visiting your dentist). It's what happens when you don't visit the dentist for about 2 years or more. After I had some fillers and learned more about cavities including what causes them, it struck me how much this relates to the porn addiction many others and I have been dealing with throughout most of our lives.

Every single human has bacteria in their mouth but the only difference is, there are varying levels of bacteria in the mouth per individual...just like there are varying levels to susceptibility of addiction to a substance per individual. Some individuals such as myself have naturally strong bacteria in our mouths...this is a major cause to bad breath and puts us at a much higher risk of developing tooth cavities (the dentists must sure be happy having me as their long-term client). Sugars, from food or drinks, in the mouth exposed to the bad bacteria would help fasten the breakdown of teeth and cause tooth decay, which then may lead to cavities. This is why it's extremely important to brush our teeth AT LEAST twice a day: Once in the morning (preferably after breakfast) and before we go to sleep. Why is brushing your teeth in the morning and before you go to bed so important? Because all that bacteria accumulates overtime and it's best not to let it eat away at your teeth. MOST IMPORTANTLY, we should be flossing AT LEAST once a day because of all the food, sugars, and bad bacteria stuck between our teeth and slowly infecting our gums. If you're flossing thoroughly and your gums aren't bleeding, then you've been doing a good job at flossing your teeth. If your gums are still bleeding, then either you haven't flossed in awhile or haven't been flossing thoroughly enough...the floss has to make good contact with the gums in between the teeth. All that small amount of blood from flossing contains a lot of bad germs, which are best removed from the gums. Eventually the bleeding will stop as the flossing improves and as it's done daily. Unhealthy gums are puffy and has the tendency to bleed from brushing or flossing whereas healthy gums are non-puffy and don't bleed from flossing. For your information, if you have the tendency of having bad breath, it is highly recommended to use mouthwash every single day or every other day (depending on how bad your breath smells) right after you brush in the morning.

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Anyhow, to compare cavities to porn addiction, there's this drive called the "porn drive", which is NOT to be confused with sex drive as there are porn addicts that aren't interested in having sex and vice versa. Porn drive per individual varies...such as how the strength of bacteria in the mouth per individual varies. Some have it strong, others have it weak. Those who have a strong porn drive are more easily susceptible to developing porn addiction just like those who have strong bacteria in their mouths are easily susceptible to tooth decay. Such as how tooth decay can lead to cavities if not treated by flossing and brushing daily, porn addiction can lead to PIED (Porn-Induced Erectile Dysfunction) if not treated overtime.

If a person viewed a lot of porn in the past and can no longer stay sexually aroused by a real person (no matter how physically attractive they are) but can stay sexually aroused by porn, then no doubt that person developed PIED. Now, I've experienced PIED and know some others who have as well. And it's just very unfortunate for whoever enjoys sex is stuck with a partner who has some kind of erectile dysfunction...definitely nothing sexy, loving, nor intimate about having a partner who stops and says, "one moment please...got to watch some porn before we do this..." or can't get/stay aroused unless they visualize porn-related images...more oftentimes than not, those fantasies don't involve the partner but rather a body part or some random other person. It's a reason why some would call porn viewing "pre-cheating", because in many porn viewers' memories there are multiples of different sex partners to satisfy them...and that's obviously not monogamous because monogamy involves one mate and one mate only.

PIED at some point did kind of get in the way during my physically intimate moments with my first ex-boyfriend but I couldn't confess to him about it because I didn't want to hurt his feelings nor ruin the moment. I figured it would break his heart if he found out that during those times I have sexually fantasized about something which didn't involve him and that it wasn't really him who was getting me sexually aroused, rather it was of that image that doesn't even consist nor represent him. Those images derived from porn and have been locked into my memory—specifically into the hippocampus of the brain. Because the brain is neuroplastic and therefore malleable (constantly changing), on average, it takes about 3 years until a person's brain fully reboots from porn—goes back to its original form before it has been exposed to porn. Porn is like a drug and like tooth decay, the longer it's left untreated...the worse it gets. Eventually the person addicted to porn no longer gets the same high or the same sexual fix to the same material anymore and moves onto different or more hardcore material, which can eventually affect the person's standards and sexuality. Basically, the person would be digging themselves into a deeper hole of addiction like how the strong bacteria especially combined with the sugars from food would be digging a hole, a cavity, into the teeth.

From a spiritual perspective, one can prevent the negative consequences of porn addiction by fasting, praying, and reading their scriptures daily. By exercising such discipline and spiritual strength, this would help reduce or eliminate urges to relapse. Just like how flossing, brushing one's teeth daily, and using mouthwash help prevent bad breath and cavities. It also helps to keep a photo of a religious figure or spiritual destination on your computer desk as well before you head out, always carry a piece of scripture or a photo of a religious figure to look at whenever the urges arrive. From a normative perspective, one can prevent the negative consequences of porn addiction by exercising daily and/or keeping themselves busy with a hobby or creative/productive task such as homework, tasks, gardening, drawing, painting, music, poetry, writing a novel, blogging, playing a non-triggering videogame, reading books, cooking, baking for a loved one (imagine the smile you would put on their faces), learning a new skill, spending time with positively influential family and friends, helping out a neighbour, etc... Sexual transmutation is one of the top ways to combat any sex-related addiction. Instead of repressing one's sexual energy or sexual urges, sexual transmutation is the process of transferring that energy into productivity and success. It's really awesome and every human being is capable of such innate ability. I have used sexual transmutation many times...into getting excellent grades at school and even in my daily anti-porn activism.

Of course, it's extremely important to stay away from any porn-related visuals altogether as that may trigger urges despite how tough it can be in this porn-saturated world especially as softcore porn is nearly everywhere including website ads, hyper-sexualized videogame characters in skimpy outfits, and from behind display windows. Whenever put into this situation, it is best to immediately avoid looking at such images and to quickly think up of something that would sexually turn you off such as a family member, your devotion towards your loved one, a religious figure, how this potential relapse would somehow hurt a child or person, how your click would raise the demand for more porn meaning more sexually-trafficked victims and more broken hearts, or an embarrassing moment in the past. On average, it takes approximately 20 minutes until the urge fades away. If you are in the middle of recovery or suspect that you're addicted to porn, know that you're not alone in this battle either. There are many others who have been and are on the same journey as you as well. Addictions are best not fought alone. Having an accountability partner that you would feel comfortable with to keep you accountable on a daily or weekly basis is highly recommended.

Click here for a long list of resources on recovering from porn addiction. Besides having an accountability partner, I would personally recommend downloading porn blockers and registering for a one-time pay lifetime membership (free for youths up to age 20; $39 for adults) at https://fortifyprogram.org/ as Fortify has a top-notched up-to-date interactive porn addiction recovery program as well as an accountability partners option. No need to pay extra for monthly fees or anything like that either. Best of luck in your recovery and all your other endeavours. And remember, you are not alone in this nor does your past or your addiction define who you are. Love, Empress Cynthelestia