Last week our local paper, The Intelligencer (Sunday, October 25,2015), ran a terrific article by Sarah H. Kagan, PhD, RN entitled “Getting Older Doesn’t Mean You Have to Lose Your Teeth”. Dr. Kagan is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing where she specializes in geriatric issues. Being married to a geriatric nursing specialist has also given me the opportunity to learn quite a bit about older folks. God willing, I may someday even become one myself!
Basically, Dr. Kagan espouses what I have been telling my patients for years – which is despite the fact that we humans only get 2 sets of teeth, “baby” or primary teeth and “adult” or permanent teeth, those permanent teeth should be just that…permanent! In other words, with the knowledge and technology available to us today, people should be able to keep their teeth for a lifetime.
Now the interesting question becomes: What constitutes a “lifetime”? The February/March issue of TIME Magazine featured an infant on the cover with the headline: “This Baby Could Live to be 142 Years Old”!
Do I think that even under the best of circumstances we could keep our adult teeth for 142 years, or even 400 years as Aubrey DeGrey has suggested – once we find a cure for cancer? NO, I don’t, even though tooth enamel is the 7th hardest naturally occurring substance known to man!
Given the fact that my father and grandfather both lost all their teeth and wound up wearing dentures, this is a concern to me. In fact, it used to give me nightmares! But no more, now that we have dental implants widely available. If for some reason, despite my meticulous home care, I should lose my teeth, I would get dental implants.
Just as people who need new hips or knees can get hip and knee replacements, most patients who lose teeth can have them comfortably replaced with dental implants.But for now, let’s take care of those pearly whites that God has blessed us with.
For more on how to take care of your teeth, visit my earlier post on “four dental lessons you can learn from your car”, or If you have any questions in the meantime, you can contact me or the staff at my office, Dr. Laurence Stone in Doylestown, PA to discuss any concerns you may have about this or any other issue in the field of dentistry.
