Teeth have long been a measurement of time passing. Are you too long in the tooth? Ageing and tooth retention have form in this regard. It used to be that most folk did not notice much about their teeth until they no longer could rely on them. These days a pretty smile is pretty much a prerequisite for modern living. Keeping our natural teeth becomes important when they start falling out. When we dentists consider the longevity of teeth, we have to examine whether DNA or lifestyle factors are implicated? Is this a question after the fact for most folk? The popularity of the blame game is at its apex right now and who can we point the finger at?

“A new study looking into tooth loss and mortality has revealed the number of teeth we have is significantly correlated to our life expectancy. Results found those with 20 teeth or more at the age of 70 had a considerably higher chance of living longer than those with less than 20 teeth.”
– DentalHealth.org

What Determines How Long Our Natural Teeth Last?

Hands up who has been madly counting how many teeth they have left in their mouth? In many ways, however, the number and health of our remaining natural teeth determine much about the quality of life as much as the overall quantity of life remaining. I suspect that some no longer feel that life is worth living when they cannot take a bite out of it. Thus, the natural teeth equation for many is a sad case of not counting up but, perhaps, giving up. These statistics never really tell us the individual whys and what fors, rather they ask us to make assumptions based on broad evidence. What, then, determines how long our natural teeth last? Is it DNA or lifestyle choices? Nature or nurture?

Does DNA Factor In To The Longevity Of Natural Teeth?

Genetics impacts our likelihood of developing tooth decay, according to initial studies in this field. However, it is early days yet to be claiming any definitive outcomes in this regard.

“Many of the factors affecting susceptibility to dental caries are likely influenced by genetics. In fact, genetics accounts for up to 65% of inter-individual variation in dental caries experience. Sex differences in dental caries experience has been widely reported, with females usually exhibiting higher prevalence and severity of disease across all ages. The cause for this sex bias is currently uncertain, although may be partly explained by the differential effects of genetic factors between the sexes: gene-by-sex interactions. In this family-based study (N=2,663; 740 families; ages 1–93 years), we assessed dental caries via intra-oral examination and generated six indices of caries experience (DMFS, dfs, and indices of both pit-and-fissure surface caries and smooth surface caries in both primary and permanent dentitions).”
– Shaffer JR, Wang X, McNeil DW, Weyant RJ, Crout R, Marazita ML. Genetic susceptibility to dental caries differs between the sexes: a family-based study. Caries Res. 2015;49(2):133-40. doi: 10.1159/000369103. Epub 2015 Jan 22. PMID: 25612913; PMCID: PMC4449725.

This Australian Study Outcome Differs

“A new study has found genetic makeup does not predispose people to tooth decay, however the research did find that children with overweight mothers are more likely to have cavities. The paper, published in the latest edition of Pediatrics, estimates that one in three Australian children have tooth decay by the time they start school. Lead researcher Dr Mihiri Silva, from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, said the study looked at the teeth of 173 sets of twins (identical and non-identical) from pregnancy through to six years of age.”
– University of Melbourne

The scientific jury is still out on the DNA question around tooth decay in humans. So regarding the longevity of teeth, are DNA or lifestyle factors implicated? Both are indicated as complicit in the overall answer to this question, but what is more relevant to your current situation?

What Can You Do About The Longevity of Your Teeth?

Dentists have long emphasised that lifestyle choices and preventative behaviours are the key to prolonging the healthy life of your natural teeth. Yes, you may well be genetically predisposed to be at a greater risk of tooth decay but this is no get out of jail free card. Quite the opposite, it means that you have to be doubly vigilant in regard to taking care of your oral hygiene and dietary choices. It might appear to be deeply unfair but that is life, unfortunately for you. We now know that for some of us starchy foods react like refined sugars in terms of bad bacterial stimulation inside our mouths. These bacterial infections cause tooth decay and gum disease via the plaque on our teeth and gums. This affects those of us with the AMY1 gene present in a certain number.

“The study, published in the journal Microorganisms, explores the oral microbiome’s response to starch. It finds that the number of copies of a particular gene, AMY1, in combination with starch, alters the complex composition of bacteria that play a role in oral health.”
– MedicalNews.net

Biology Teaching Us More About Our Oral Health

The good news is that we are learning much more about what is going on biologically for us. Therefore, with this added information we can take appropriate steps to protect our oral health more effectively. End game result will be the prolonging of the longevity of our natural teeth. The dilemma at the moment is that for the majority of us our natural teeth are not lasting the distance – as we are living longer. This has been greatly exacerbated by the proliferation of unhealthy processed foods into our diets. Governments have been remiss in not taking preventative steps to ward off the exploitation of our population via the unchecked promotion of sugary processed foods and drinks, especially children. We have all known about the damage these snack foods and soft drinks have been doing to our oral health for decades but nothing has been done. There is an obesity epidemic in America and in other Western nations. Diabetes is destroying the lives of millions of people globally. Still, little is done to prevent the damage being reaped.

“In the American diet, the top sources are soft drinks, fruit drinks, flavoured yogurts, cereals, cookies, cakes, candy, and most processed foods. But added sugar is also present in items that you may not think of as sweetened, like soups, bread, cured meats and ketchup. The result: we consume way too much added sugar. Adult men take in an average of 24 teaspoons of added sugar per day, according to the National Cancer Institute. That’s equal to 384 calories.

“Excess sugar’s impact on obesity and diabetes is well documented, but one area that may surprise many men is how their taste for sugar can have a serious impact on their heart health,” says Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.”
– Harvard School of Public Health

The current US president is attacking Harvard University and trying to gag it from contributing to American life via progressive messaging like the above report. Stifling free speech is part of an authoritarian agenda being enacted in the US right now. Talk about protecting oral health.

Cutting Your Teeth On The Hand Dealt By Life

When it comes to the longevity of teeth, like the longevity of our organs, or even our memory, DNA and lifestyle factors are implicated. We are dealt a particular hand of cards in the game of life. Some of us may feel we are a bit lite-on for picture cards and aces. How we, then, play the game of life via what we consume and how we maintain our physical assets and tools becomes crucial to our longevity and quality of life. I wish I had the appreciation of this fact when I was younger. How many of us would concur on this? It would be plenty, I imagine.

The old adage is – ‘you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.’ Ain’t that the truth!

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