So a couple of weeks ago my teeth started hurting and I was pretty sure the super-sugary tea (aka "cavity juice") was finally taking its toll. Even though I brush my teeth at least three times a day, every time I drink tea I can just picture my teeth dissolving. So I went to the dentist only to learn that I did not in fact have a single cavity, but instead I had been brushing my teeth TOO much, and was basically brushing away my gums.
So this is definitely something I'm not going to tell my host family. I've still never seen anyone in my village brush their teeth, and if they found out that it was possible to brush too much, that's the one story everyone would tell for the next decade whenever the subject of teeth-brushing came up.
Kind of like the [what I think is probably an] Urban Legend about the American woman who came to Morocco and married a Moroccan man, converted to Islam, and still lives in Morocco, wears jalabas and head scarves and never intends to leave. I think I hear this story just about every day.
