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Originally Posted by Mr. Truelove What about those rappers with the "grills"?  |
Yeah, I had a good laugh when I heard that song. I mean, they must be really hard up for song material when they start singing entire songs about their shoes (I've heard, like, TWO songs about just shoes so far) and about interchangeable gemstone-studded dentures. :rollseyes:
Alas, I was not blessed with the world's straightest teeth (shoulda had ortho, but didn't have the cash or a dental plan as a kid). Hence the mouth-shut picture.
But I have a thing for
clean mouths. I enjoy kissing, and I just can't enjoy it if, with every breath, I have to think about how bad their breath smells. Like Amanda said, floss, brush and rinse. It's a friggin' 5 minute routine! You only actually NEED to brush once a day, and you can usually get away with flossing every other day if you really need to. But if you don't floss, you end up with chunks of food putrefying between your teeth and below the gumline. And you get bacteria (which the human mouth is ripe with anyway) which produce acid when they feed off this rotting material. This acid eats away at the enamel of your teeth causing cavities, AND attacking the gingival tissue (your gums). If left unchecked, the acid breaks down the tiny ligaments that attach your teeth to the tissue below the gumline, causing deeper and deeper pockets (which become food traps which expound the problem), gum recession and eventually bone loss. This is irreversible once you get to this stage (called periodontitis), and you eventually lose teeth. But long before the teeth start falling out, you'll know someone with this problem because you can smell it. The smell is rotting blood, rotting food matter, and pus. Sweet, eh? All this loveliness can be avoided by developing a simple, quick routine to clean your teeth and mouth, avoiding high-sugar foods, and investing once a year in a professional dental cleaning and check-up. Seriously, it IS an investment.
I also heard somewhere (and I can't remember the source!) about there being a connection between your health (especially heart health) and dental health. I just can't remember if gingivitis is actually a risk factor, an aggravator, or an indicator of heart disease. I'll have to go google it now...