Cherish Your Chompers

I keep one of these handy, and always use it after I've eaten something. Can't stand the feeling of having something on, or stuck between, my teeth. (Maybe because I'm a redhead?) Way better than a toothpick; easier to keep handy and use than regular floss.

Glide floss picks

Beaks are much easier to maintain.....say aahhh

Just replace them , what's the big deal?

Upgrade baby !!!

Regards.

Though the topic is Dental cleaning and Health but we in our country include it in Oral Health Care.

Cleaning and care of teeth cannot be complete if we don't care out mouth, gums, tongue and throat.

If after every meal, drink and snack if we have the habit of cleaning of mouth with hot water lot of oral and dental problems may be curbed.

I normally use floss for elderly people to clean gaps (I am 80 now) as material left there is more problematic for senior citizens.

I found a lot of information about oral health on this site for Oral Health Care and supplies.

In my young and immortal days, I found my teeth often handy as wire insulation strippers.

Not only are teeth worth saving, but where they sit can be a harbinger of heart disease and other maladies. That there is linkage between the 2 is indicated in analytical (observational?) studies.

On the "pro" side is this article by Jeannette Y. Wick, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy. A key statement in this article is: Men younger than 50 years had a significantly higher risk, which is citation 5 for this paper.

On the "con" side is an article at the Dr. Oz web site. The key statement in the Oz article is: Observational studies have noted associations between gum disease and cardiovascular disease, but the 500 journal articles and studies reviewed by the committee didn't confirm a causative link.

Why does it have to be causative? Why not an indicator? And would that be less important? If the gums suffer from inflammation -- puffiness and bleeding when brushed -- it doesn't have to be causative. There are many parts of the body that can indicate the status of the body in general -- nails, skin color, tongue, eyes, etc. Abnormalities in these are considered "markers." I think gum status is usually indicative of ascorbic acid serum and tissue levels in the body.

The reason gum status -- and more seriously, disease -- is worth paying attention to is not that it will infect the rest of your body with "dental" disease, now manifested as heart disease, but because I think it is an indicator of sub-optimal levels of ascorbic acid, which can be argued, leads to CVD. I've posted elsewhere links about sub-optimal ascorbic acid levels and heart disease. They tend to track. And the reason men under 50 have a higher risk factor (article by Ms. Wick), to me, means they are further along the curve of slow and steady degenerative decline, due to low ascorbic acid levels, probably for a variety of reasons in lifestyle, diet, and habits like drinking and smoking, that are detrimental to ascorbic acid levels. That we have an evolutionary disadvantage to start with is only exacerbated by poor habits.

Unfortunately, scurvy is still around as noted in this article. (And how many modern physicians might not check for scurvy, because it isn't so common.) Hematoma, or bruising, is another general indicator of ascorbic acid tissue levels. Doubly unfortunate in this case is the suggested Treatment and Prognosis section. While the author mentions Irwin Stone, it seems Stone's logic of how much humans need is trumped by governmental guidelines. Something is better than nothing, but this level of intake is very close to spinning one's wheels. And the implication is that continued supplementation is not necessary. It is why Irwin Stone concluded that most people are in a state of subclinical scurvy, which goes unnoticed, putting one on the road to resulting complications.

The connection between the mouth bacteria and the same bacteria causing hearth problems is not established in one of the referred website, because some direct links were left out.

Rootcanal cannot be done in a sterile fashion. The "packing" of the hole may or may not clean the fine spongelike vascularized inner part of the tooth. It is dead, as the remainder of its nerve was already removed. When it has a live colony, it is a source of a systemic infection for you, including the hearth. The outcome is expensive for you, and not good. DNA check can provide proof.

I am part of this statistic. After attempting a repair the 3.rd time on the same rootcanal, I made an executive decision, and the tooth was yanked. In 6 months all the symptoms were gone. Years later, I am still trouble free.

Sounds pretty paranoid about tooth usage to me.

I am 39 years old never had a cavity, eat loads of candy and sugary stuff, use my teeth as a third hand, strip wire with them at times, roll screws and nails around in them while building things, brush once a day with a extra firm toothbrush, clean the difficult to reach places with a bent wire, chew on Jawbreakers candies, you name it and I have probably abused my teeth with it.

I went to a dentist about 5 years ago after a 20 year gap in visits just to see how they were doing and was told that I have some of the hardest teeth he has ever seen.

Odds are they will last me my life time and probably make it a few hundred years longer after the rest of me has turned to dust.

45 is about the time everything starts going to hell....it only gets worse from there.

I suppose you eat like a hog and never gain weight, either.

Just wait.

About 18 mos. ago, dental hygienist recommended: !)-always use fluoride toothpaste 2) after brushing, do not wash residue out of mouth, fluoride is beneficial. 3) use kids' fluoride mouthwash regularly, several times a day, or when in bathroom at night. Since starting this procedure, have not had any cavities (usually 1-2 every annual checkup). Searching on medgov site, found a number of research reports about re-mineralization of teeth from fluoride, and the replacement calcium is actually tougher than the natural tooth calcium. This next experience is a bit weird, but it did happen: weekend toothache, dentist not available, regular GP recommends 600 mg ibuprofein; this did stop toothache, and I used the fluoride mouthwash every couple of hours. In 2-3 days stopped Ibu, kept up mouthwash. That was over a year ago. Told my dentist, she could not find the cavity, but also said she had never seen fluoride remineralize a cavity. So, I don't know, but fortunately the mouthwash is $ 1/bottle at dollar store and I'm a firm believer in its positive effects.

you probably killed a gum infection that was deep alongside one of the roots and affecting the nerve by creating pressure from inflamed tissue you weren't able to see yourself.

You'll learn for yourself where the phrase "...gumming it..." originated...and why!