How to Keep Your Teeth

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MEDICAL SELF CARE:

This issue's column was guest-written—for Dr. Tom Ferguson—by a frequent contributor to Medical Self-Care.

A staggering proportion of Americans lose their teeth. Every year, in fact, dentists extract over 60 million precious ivory "choppers" from mouths all across the country. And at last count, one in every eight Americans was completely toothless!

Worse yet, the problem remains widespread despite decades of holding educational dental hygiene programs in U.S. schools. In fact, many people still know little or nothing about why tooth loss occurs ... and, in a lot of cases, what they do know is heavily shrouded in myth.

Myth 1: Only old people lose their teeth.

It is true that nine out of ten Americans over 60 no longer have any teeth ... but this fact doesn't mean that such loss is an unavoidable aspect of aging, or that younger people are immune to the problem! Statistically speaking, by the time you turn 35, there's a 30% chance that all of your pearly whites will have been removed!

Myth 2: Tooth decay is the major cause of tooth loss.

Wrong. The average American loses "only" six to ten teeth to cavities. The rest are destroyed by gum disease, which causes 90% of all tooth loss after age 40.

And just what is gum disease? Well, unlike tooth decay, this malady (also known as pyorrhea or periodontal disease) attacks the support system of your teeth rather than the choppers themselves. It typically begins with an inflammation of the gums, and then spreads to the ligaments and bones that hold the teeth in place. Once these structural components begin to weaken, the teeth loosen and — eventually — fall out.

Periodontal disease develops in two stages. The first, called mild gingivitis, is characterized by redness and swelling of the gums, plus localized bleeding when — for example — you simply work a toothpick between your teeth. If detected early, this stage is relatively easy to cure ... but if left unchecked, it progresses into stage two, periodontitis, a more serious condition with the following symptoms: [1] increased redness and swelling of the gums, [2] bleeding, even after gentle brushing, [3] persistent bad breath, [4] a buildup of calculus, or tartar, along the gumline, [5] a feeling that your teeth are drifting out of position, and [6] receding gums.

If you have any of these symptoms, you should consult a dentist immediately. In most cases (depending, of course, upon the extent of the problem), the doctor will first try to rid your mouth of a sticky, villainous substance called plaque: a more or less transparent filmconsisting of bacteria and decomposed food particles-that is the princi ple cause of gum disease. The material accumulates on the surface of teeth, usually in such hard-to-brush places as the spaces near and just behind the gums. If it's not washed or scraped away within 24 to 36 hours, it hardens into calculus, which irritates the gums and protects the bacteria living in plaque from being easily removed.