In
all of the photographs that I’ve seen for prehistoric man, nearly all of
them still have their teeth attached to their jawbone. I find this of
interest since it indicates to me that somehow or another these folks
managed to keep most of their molars without the aid of tooth brushing or
modern dental techniques. How is this possible, I ask?
Most of us are taught from the time we
learned to walk that unless we brushed and flossed each and every hour of
our lives we would lose all of teeth, our gums and most of the rest of
anything remotely connected to our mouths. So, if this is the case, how is
that the cavemen and cave women managed to exist for who knows how many
years without any professional dental work being performed? Added to this
is the fact that these skulls were left out in the sand and dirt for who
knows how many years and they still survived. What’s the secret to this?
Were they picky eaters or the end result of proper dental health training?
I can’t find any evidence that they had toothbrushes; toothpaste or
anything and they seemed to have made out just fine.
Of course their smiles could have used some
help, but braces didn’t come into play until about the time Cleopatra
came on the scene. Seems she was the model for today’s beauty aids
having invented hair curlers, eye shadow and a host of other
heretofore-unknown products. She was way ahead of her time. From what I
heard she had braces at an early age and flossed each day with a piece of
rope. Made big gaps between her teeth, but hey, what the heck? It got her
Caesar and old Mark, what’s his name didn’t it? I’ve been most
fortunate in that I have teeth like iron. Dentists don’t make a lot of
money off of me as a patient. They do tend to make up for it by taking
x-rays every time I go in for a checkup. I tend to stay with the same
dentist for years on end if I can manage it. However, we moved a few years
ago and I get tired of the long haul back to our previous town just for a
cleaning and checkup. Found this local dentist not too far from where we
live and scheduled an appointment. I hadn’t been in about a year and
told them so when I first called.
When I arrived the technician that is
scheduled to work on me looks over my chart and starts with this kind of a
clucking sound. You know the kind that makes you want to
say…"what?" She takes x-rays and then tells me that the tartar
build up is because I obviously don’t floss. Well, I tell her that she
is dead wrong, because I do floss at least twice a year whether I need to
or not. She wants to know why I do so twice a year and I tell her that it
gets done when I get my teeth cleaned, which is every six months or so.
She attacks my mouth with this kind of diabolical approach all the time
telling me of the dangers of not flossing on a regular basis. Here you are
stuck in the chair with your mouth open and spread apart, totally unable
to speak and someone is asking you questions as well as giving you a
lecture on dental hygiene. She goes at it and I get the impression that
she is on a quest and would be really happy if she could just prove to me
that I have multiple cavities since I refuse to floss properly. She takes
on the appearance of an Army drill sergeant and proceeds to dig and probe
a little harder than I really think is necessary. Having had this happen
to me before, I know that she will end up frustrated since I have only had
one cavity since I was born. Having scraped and probed to her hearts
content without any real results she proceeds to tell me that she has seen
cases where people who had cast iron teeth (obviously a reference to me)
had their gums just fall out overnight for some reason or another. I’m
trying to get a picture of what this looks like in my mind and am having
difficulty doing so. Maybe this woman was actually in the Army making
those horrible public health films we were made to watch. Somehow we get
though the exam and cleaning then the doctor comes in and looks over her
work… Right away he realizes that he’ll never get rich off of my
mouth…Doesn’t even warn me about the hazards of not flossing, just
schedules me for another appointment in six months. …With another set of
x-rays, I’ll bet.
As always you can reach me at www.pearyperry.com. |
