oh yes i'm pretty sure i have gingivitis.No insurance, and the only sink in the house is the bathroom sink with a slow drain and frequently full of stagnant water.Not a pleasant place to brush teeth.I've also gotten athletes foot from what i think was a hotel shower.I've also combed knots out of my hair the size of a baseball.My eyebrows are like two caterpillars,and my legs are like sasquatch. I've only recently tackled the hair and started brushing my teeth more.
I would like to hear more about your story notahappycamper,did u go to a dentist eventually.I have every symptom of gingivitis but have no dental insurance.
A very mild case of gingivitis can be stopped with proper care, while the serious stuff (what I had) needs antibiotics. If I had not inherited some money and felt financially comfortable enough to buy insurance, I would not have gone to the dentist, either. However, even with the medication, if I had not started taking better care of my teeth on a daily basis, it would have come back.
Not flossing was my big problem, combined with less than daily brushing and more than a decade of no dental cleanings. I knew myself well enough to know that even if I swore on a stack of Bibles that I would floss, I just wouldn't. I HATE flossing. The corners of my mouth tear if forced to open that far, and floss gets stuck in my teeth to where I've had to use needle-nosed pliers to get it out. I won't do it. I thought about buying a water pik, which I'd had before, and knew it was more user friendly than the floss, but there were down sides to it that made me stop using it before. It annoyed me to have to refill the tank 2 or 3 times per use, and the splattering mess was just more than I could stand. I remembered seeing a water pik that attached to the sink faucet, which would take care of the refilling issue, so I looked on line to see if I could find one. I wasn't completely sold on the idea, though, because I knew that the only way for it to work was to make it a habit, part of my morning routine, and I just didn't see myself fooling around with attachments and hoses in the wee hours of the morning.
Then I found this:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CEMWHI/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00 This thing literally saved my teeth. Endless supply of water, variable water pressure, all the splatter is contained in the shower, and it's the first thing I do when I wash up. Easy peasy. How well did it work? The dentist fully expected to have to do another round of antibiotics ($$$) to wipe out the disease, but after just 3 months of using the shower pik, my "numbers" went from 5s and 6s (very bad) to 1s and 1.5s! He said my teeth were in better shape than his were! Now, granted, I did have the medication BUT if you promise not to tell my dentist, I'll tell you what really happened... I only brushed and pik-ed 5 times a week. That would be every work day. On the weekends, I still blew it off. And just once a day on those days. So I'm thinking that the shower pik REALLY did a great job, and that it would help you, if not stop the disease, at least slow it way down, maybe slow enough to keep your teeth in your mouth until you can afford professional care.
Another very simple thing you can do is to rinse your mouth after you eat. I had braces in my 20's, and was horrified at the stuff that would get caught in them when eating, so I started rinsing after every meal or snack. The stuff that would come out of my mouth was unreal! The habit stayed with me after the braces came off, and is probably what allowed me to keep my teeth for those ten years without professional attention. All I do is swish water around and spit it out, looking to see what comes out (ew, I know). I keep doing it until it rinses clean.
As far as brushing goes, I bought one of those cheap spinning brushes for kids, one that has a timer. (I need a timer because my mind wanders, and I'll either brush just one section and not realize I've not done the rest, or, I will brush around all over really quickly and not take the time needed to do a good job.) I use that in the shower, too (no icky backed up sinks to look at).
Athletes foot: if you have just this and not nail fungus, too, OTC Lamisil cream works really well. It will not, however, touch nail fungus. My solution, which takes care of not just AF and NF, but also discolored nails, rock hard thick callouses, and dry, scaly, splitting skin, is to soak your feet 30 minutes in Listerine. Yup, Listerine. As I type this, my feet are soaking in a solution of about 1 part Listerine to 3 parts water. I use the cheap generic stuff, color/flavor makes no difference. The very first time I tried this, as I dried off my feet, the towel rubbed away a great portion of my callouses, and I could see that my nails looked clearer/cleaner. I was convinced right then and there. I'm into my fourth week of doing this, and will share with you my big toe, so you can see for yourself where the healthy nail is replacing the fungi nail:
Amazing, isn't it? And to think I've put up with icky feet for such a long time!
Now, you may wonder about stinging and drying... Well, I had open sores, from scratching, and deeply split skin, and the Listerine did not hurt me at all! I was really surprised, let me tell you! I was fully expecting to scream in pain while running to rinse them off, but it was totally fine. It actually stopped the itching, and appears to speed the healing of the open sores. There is a drying action, but in a good way that kills the rash and blisters. I put a thin coat of petroleum jelly on my feet and then socks, and its fine. Oh, and also, if my feet start itching or just feeling tired, I'll soak them again briefly. Really refreshing!
Hair care: part of the problem is that I can't be bothered with a bunch of different products and procedures (lather, rinse, repeat, condition, rinse, ugh) . If I have to spend an extra minute or two of my precious morning, it's likely not to happen. So, I've found a product that does it all. It's amazing stuff, very gentle, great for sensitive or baby skin, can be used as a skin moisturizer as well as a waterless cleanser. It conditions your scalp and softens and detangles your hair. Used daily, it can substitute for shampoo. Its fantastic for shaving as well as removing makeup. As far as I know, it's only available at Sally Beauty
www.sallybeauty.com/Hair-Skin-Conditioner/SBS-442010,default,pd.html, but you might be able to find it at a resale shop, or someplace like eBay. Its less than $10.00 for a GALLON, which will last a seriously long time. You can get smaller sizes, too.
How I use it: My jug came with a pump, so I pump out 2 or 3 squirts, massage it into my hair and scalp, then use the excess on my hands to wash my face and neck. As you work it into your hair, you can feel your hair becoming soft and silky. Rinse, and tangles just fall out. When my shower is done, I get one more pump, rub it in my hands, and apply it as moisturizer all over. Works wonderfully.
Hairy legs? Well, I've gotten old enough that I have very little hair on my legs, so I'm no help there. But even when I did, I didn't really care. I wouldn't wear shorts or visit the doctor without shaving, but otherwise I let it grow. Maybe someone else can chime in on that one
Unibrow? I too had thick, black brows, with some single hairs on the bridge of my nose, so yeah almost a unibrow! Waxing hurt and never looked right (not a steady hand), shaving was crazy (although I did do it a few times), electrolysis was costly and time consuming, Nair was dangerous and didn't really work. Tweezing was cheap, safe, and easy, but after about 5 hairs I was ready to quit. Yep, I could handle the pain of 5 hairs on each side, that was it.
Well, I figured, 5 was better than nothing. So I made a deal with myself. I only had to pluck 5 hairs from each side, if I did it every time I went to the bathroom. I put a hand mirror and tweezers in reach of "the throne" area, and determined to give it a try. I didn't really know how to shape the brows (I knew the theory, but it never looked right), so I just plucked the five that bothered me the most. The ones that were way down on my lid, or in the middle of my forehead
or crawling toward my hairline. Just five. Wasn't so bad. I kept doing it, 5 at a time, several potty times a day, just plucking the ones that bothered me or looked out of place. I never pulled all of them out of one area, that would have left a hole, I just plucked like you would prune a bush, a little here, a little there, looking for symmetry and balance. It didn't take long to get them into shape, it really didn't. And as a bonus, since I was tearing the little buggers out by the roots, after a while they slowed and some even stopped growing back!
Now I'm to the point that I just check my eyes in the morning, and once or twice a week, I'll have something to pluck. Since I've all this free time, I've started doing the same thing to my upper lip, and its working just as well there, too!
I do hope this helps you, that you can find some thing of this that will work for you.
but having spent several hundreds pounds getting my ancient cat's remaining back teeth removed and with another hefty bill looming for slightly less ancient cat's dental work I'm not in any financial position to darken the dentists's threshold myself! I do floss, I quite enjoy it when i get round to it but am somewhat easily distracted from the habit. I certainly have gingivitis. 
) I have a rough exfoliating mitt from a dollar store that would be helpful at the end of a long soak in the tub for that and for my feet, especially if I had a bath many times/week.
