I was surprised recently to find out that ones heart health is affected a lot by getting ones teeth cleaned regularly by a dental hygenist. Especially after you are 30 or 40 years old this becomes more true every year.
However, after I had a heart virus (often caused by particles from a dental hygenist getting into your blood) 1 time out of 1000, and since at the time I was the only one of all the people I heard about that year that actually survived a heart virus, I stopped getting my teeth cleaned because my dentist didn't want the liability of me getting another heart virus and getting sued.
However, I have changed dentists now and he is much younger and what is called a "pain free dentist" and likely more expensive. My wife likes the "pain free" and cosmetic part of his work.
I'm liking the new style of dentistry because it helps my heart health. I found in the last few weeks that I needed to buy a water pik to keep my gums healthy and to prevent gum infections at age 65. I hadn't realized the age of my gums while still having all my own teeth with just one implant that it was important to do this. Basically, I think I have 7 to 10 root canals and the one implant. But, if you go back to the 1950s when I grew up most people had lost at least half their teeth by age 40 that I knew then. So, almost everyone 40 and above wore partial or full plates of false teeth if they could afford them then. Otherwise, they might have a gummy smile.
I'm lucky in that I have all my adult teeth but my wisdom teeth that I had (the five of them) taken out when I was 18. I only have one implant and other than that have all my adult teeth still in my head at age 65 which would have been sort of unheard of in the 1950s.
So, what I'm now learning is how important it is for my heart health to regularly use a water pik to with water pressure blow away food particles and to massage my gums and clean my teeth and to make sure food doesn't collect in between my teeth and cause gum infections.
It is all news to me. UP until now my son who was studying to become a nurse with a Bachelor of Science in nursing had gotten me to use one of those electric toothbrushes that has a battery in the handle and vibrates for better cleaning. But, I hadn't yet understood how important yet it was to my heart health to get a water pik and really get serious about cleaning with water between my teeth and also getting rid of plaque that way also. So, I guess you learn something new and useful every day don't you?
No comments:
Post a Comment