Myth about losing teeth for older people

I used to believe that as a person gets old, his gum will be like his body muscle that loses its firmness, and causes teeth to losen and eventually, dentures are unavoidable.

I am lucky to have my dentist explaining to me that gum does not behave like body muscle. Provided I maintain my oral hygiene, my gum will continue to be healthy, and I am not going to lose my teeth.

It is a shame that I was not aware of the proper way to maintain oral hygiene until I am half a century old. Thanks to my dentist, who patiently pointed out to me where I always miss in teeth brushing, and taught me how to floss my teeth.

To sum up:

1. Brush teeth after food. Just as food left in the open, food caught in between teeth, etc, will cause cavities as bacteria also finds its ways into our mouths.
2. While brushing teeth, use soft toothbrush and do not forget to brush the gum as well
3. Avoid sweet drinks, avoid soury drinks, avoid carbonated drink especially coke which is equivalent to vinegar + sugar,
4. As we age, our saliva becomes less. Saliva helps to protect our teeth against decay. And thus, drink plain water regularly
5. Visit dentist regularly to have routine checkup and preventive dental treatment like scaling

Without healthy teeth, a person's eating habit will change. It will be harder to chew on solid food. Not having enough sold food intake like meat, vegetable, bean, nuts, a person's health will deteriorate due to insufficient nutrition. Supplements can never replace natural food.

To many, losing teeth is losing of one's dignity. Having dentures is never to be the same as real teeth. Thus, maintaining oral hygiene is an important way of upkeeping our health.