Nurse's Notes

by Kate Reeves

2005 November View

THOSE PEARLY WHITES

Have you noticed recently how many folks are sporting shiny, bright white teeth?  Bleaching teeth is just the newest wrinkle in a long history of dental care.  Dental care is one of the unsung heroes of keeping us healthy, because the health of our teeth is extremely important to the health of our whole body—it isn’t just so we will have a nice smile.One reason dental care has become so important is that we are living longer and our teeth have to last longer.  Life expectancy in the United States has almost doubled in the past 100 years—in 1900 life expectancy was about 47 years—now it is about 77 years.  That means at least 30 extra years of wear and tear for our body parts.  Unfortunately the message hasn’t gotten through to a lot of people—by age 85 fully 50% of the population will have lost all their teeth. [1]  However Californians do better than that—less than 20% of our seniors are without teeth.  The most important associations with tooth loss are lack of education and SMOKING!  (It isn’t just about lung cancer!)

Losing teeth, especially back teeth, is associated with a host of problems.  Among them are tempro-mandibular joint (TMJ) problems, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), appearance, sleep apnea, and inability to maintain proper nutrition.  When one loses the back dental support, the front teeth fan out a bit, which leads to further bone and tooth loss.  Fitting of dentures is not a one-time thing—as the bone disappears, the dentures don’t fit well and need to be refitted or replaced.  Many people don’t do this and end up not wearing them at all, or only for special occasions.

Two particular milestones have helped produce modern dentistry—the first being the advent of good anesthesia.  In fact, the first use of anesthesia was by a dentist, Horace Wells, in 1844!  The 1943 movie “Great Moment” portrays this event.

The second big breakthrough was the use of preventive fluorides.  Although fluorides were known to prevent tooth decay as early as the 1930’s, their wide-spread use was delayed by WWII and then by  ideas of “communist plots”.  Once Crest and other toothpastes starting adding fluorides, the evidence piled up and the tide became irresistible.  Today decay is a minor issue compared to yesteryear.

In 2005 the emphasis (besides that bleaching!) is on keeping gums healthy (periodontal disease) and correcting problems such as misalignment so that the bite is normal.  Brushing, flossing, braces when needed, good nutrition and NO SMOKING should keep your teeth healthy and you won’t become just another toothless statistic.