Take Care Of Your Teeth While You Still Can

Ecclesiastes 12:3, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,”

This is an amazing passage of Scripture. Solomon personifies his health problems:

1. the keepers of the house tremble = multiple health problems
2. the strong men bow themselves = physical weakness
3. the grinders cease = losing teeth
4. those who look out the window are darkened = bad eyesight

All my life I've had good teeth. So I took them for granted as I grew older, not flossing at all and only brushing when I felt like it, which was a couple times a week usually. But for years now I have rinsed my mouth daily with Listerine antiseptic. Several months ago I went to have my teeth cleaned, which I do about every 3 years. That's not often enough. Everyone should go get their teeth cleaned by a dental hygienist at least every 6 months.

Well, I was shocked 2 weeks ago, a rude awakening for sure, when I met with a dentist to have a cavity fixed on my upper left molar (back tooth). The dentist said the tooth was too damaged to fix and it needs to be extracted. I didn't trust him, so I consulted with a second dentist, and she said the tooth can be saved with a root canal and a crown. But I was sickened in my mind when they quoted me $4,000. They want $2,279 just for the root canal, and then another $1,649 for the crown that fits over the old tooth. Ouch and ouch!

So I called around and sought a third opinion. I met with a third dentist and she agreed that I can get a root canal and a crown. But she said I have a cavity on my upper right molar that needs to be fixed. She said I have several spots on my gums where they are pulling away from my teeth at 4 mm, and 5 mm in one spot. She said I need what is called “deep cleaning,” where they go beyond normal cleaning of the teeth, and remove all the bacteria, tartar and plaque down to the root of each tooth. They quoted me $1,500 for the Deep Cleaning! I felt sick.

All toll, it is going to cost me over $5,000 to have a root canal, crown, a cavity fixed and deep cleaning on all my teeth! Good night in the morning. I am not a rich man, but I am an honest man with good credit, so I can pay it off over time. I had a couple people advise me to just have my tooth extracted, and don't waste my money on Deep Cleaning. I couldn't disagree more. First, I thank God that I can afford to pay for it, even though it will take me some time to do so. But I want my teeth when I am old, if I have any say in the matter! I counted 28 teeth in my mouth. I don't have any more wisdom teeth, they were all extracted in my youth for different reasons at different times (which I cannot remember). People normally have 32 teeth. God willing I'd like to continue having teeth to my death, whenever that is.

I wrote this article to all my blog readers as a good friend does, to help warn you of what can happen. If my molar cracks and they need to replace it with an implant tooth, it will cost anywhere from $5,000 to $8,000. That is ungodly! I don't have dental insurance, and even if I did, most insurance policies have strict terms and only pay for some of the some. What I am saying dear reader is please take care of your teeth! I thought it was funny when the dental hygienist told me that she needs a root canal and crown too. You'd think that the experts in the dental business would have the best teeth. Go figure! I didn't want to ask her why her tooth rotted, which I thought would be too nosy and unkind. But I am curious why her tooth is bad. Perhaps she is a smoker, which is very bad for one's teeth. I praise God times ten thousands that I have never smoked a cigarette in my life, and never plan to!!!

I went to Walmart last week and purchased an Oral B electric toothbrush and 6 tubes of toothpaste. I will never abuse my teeth again, by not brushing every day and only using Listerine. I have been brushing now after every meal. If I had simply taken a little but of time to clean my teeth after each meal, I wouldn't be paying several thousands dollars now for dental repairs. Actually, I consider myself very fortunate, because a full set of dental implants costs anywhere between $30,000 up to $90,000. I saw last week that actor Charlie Sheen's teeth were all rotten. Charlie used to cover his mouth with his hand when smiling, from embarrassment, but now has a wonderful smile to be proud of. I am happy with my smile. I give my smile an 8 out of 10. I have a gap between my front teeth, but it doesn't look bad. I just thank God so much for my natural teeth. 

Dear friend, take care of your grinders, because you will need them in your old age. I've been drinking 2 Tablespoons of Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar in a glass of water each morning. It has the Mother in the bottle. That is all the good gooey stuff in the bottom of the barrel when they make the Apple Cider Vinegar. It lowers high blood pressure, lowers your sugar level, helps you feel full throughout the way to help you lose weight, and has many health benefits. BUT, the vinegar is an acid and will eat the enamel away from your teeth, so always rinse your mouth with water after drinking Apple Cider Vinegar.

We can only try to avoid accidents. Things happen. I may lose all my teeth in a car accident, or slipping in a fall, or someone punching me out who hates me website...lol. If something bad happens, my God is still on His throne. I may die blind, deaf, toothless, crippled and maimed, but God promises every believer in Philippians 3:21 that at the Rapture we will receive an immortal body fashioned like unto the Lord's glorified resurrected perfect body. I can't wait to have no more chronic neck pain ever again, from which I've horribly suffered since 2004 every day of my life. God is good and I have no complaints, but I do get depressed often from my pain and live a reclusive lonely life. 

I hope to someday find a good wife to share the remainder of my life with, but it doesn't look like I will ever find her. So I am giving up on the idea. Albeit, by God's grace I intend to eat a highly vegetarian diet, take care of my teeth as best I can, maintain 150 to 170 pounds for the rest of my life. I had a hard boiled egg for breakfast today, one teaspoon of natural peanut butter, with 2 Tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar. For lunch I ate 2 stuffed crabs (my favorite), some grilled blackened white fish portions, and a bowl of Italian green beans. If you've never tried Italian green beans, you are missing out! They are flat. Buy the seasoned ones in a can, or season them yourself with some liquid smoke, pepper and whatever you like. There are many helpful videos on YouTube about eating healthy, but I really like this holistic doctor's videos. ...

Top 10 Healthy Foods You Must Eat

Taking care of your teeth requires eating healthy internally, as well as keeping them clean externally. I knew a woman year ago who lived on French fires and lost all her teeth. My own dear mother (1935-2001) was a chronic smoker and lost all her teeth. She had dentures.

If you don't brush your teeth after every meal, I encourage you to start doing it! Also, I bought a bag of 300 floss sticks at Walmart, which have convenient little handles and small piece of affixed floss, which makes it very easy to floss. You should flood daily, especially after eating meat, which is easily caught in between our teeth. Sugars, candy and soda pop will rot your teeth.

I learned today that plaque buildup on our teeth eats away the bone under the tooth. As we grow older it is normal for some bone loss to occur, which makes it all that much more important that we keep our teeth clean and go visit a dentist every 6 months to have a general cleaning. Then you won't need a Deep Cleaning for $1,500 like I do. The dentist showed me images of plaque buildup under my gums, which needs to be removed to prevent periodontal gum disease down the road. You only have one set of teeth, so please take care of them! Brush after each meal. Don't brush too hard, or you can literally brush the enamel right off your teeth, which will cause major damage. I use a battery-powered electric toothbrush, which vibrates back and forth a tiny bit. It is very easy to use. I wish I had bought one many years ago. They only cost $15 at Walmart.

My pain medications dehydrate my body and I often wake up with severe dry mouth, which can also contribute to tooth decay. So I need to make sure to drink lots of water. Whatever your weight is, you should drink half of that in ounces of water. So if you weight 160 pounds, you should drink about 80 ounces of water per day. One gallon is 128 pounces. God willing I will be 55 years old on March 5th 2022. April of this year will mark the 20th anniversary of my website ministry. I began my Jesus-is-Savior.com website ministry in April of 2002. I thank God praise the Lord Jesus Christ, giving Him alone ALL the credit for any good accomplished through my humble labors for Him over these two decades.

I hope I have encouraged you in this blog to start taking better car of your teeth if you haven't been doing so. I had the wrong impression that if I didn't care for my teeth, I would notice some small symptoms before the problem became a big problem, but I was so wrong. In fact, you may not notice any signs of a problem until major rotting has happened, and you may lose one or more teeth due to infection. It doesn't take long for a tooth to start rotting once a cavity begins to form due to poor dental hygiene.

So unless you want to lose all your teeth and only have gums left, or spend $50,000 for dental implants, or spend $5,000 like I am now to fix my deteriorating teeth from neglect, or cover your mouth to hide all your rotting teeth—all you need to do to prevent these unpleasant nightmares from happening is to always brush your teeth with toothpaste after every meal or snack. Floss once a day. Go have a dental hygienist clean your teeth every 6 months. Don't smoke cigarettes. When eating acidic foods, make sure to rinse your mouth afterwards, if you can't brush right away.

Recent health studies are now showing that bad teeth is linked to heart disease, diabetes and all sorts of serious health issues. You are only as healthy as your secrets! What is going on under your gums is a secret (hidden from plain view). So if you don't take care of your teeth, you will not be healthy overall.

The same goes for your feet. Most older people have problems with their feet. Diabetics are prone to lose their toes and feet. If you eat like a pig and gain a bunch of weight, so that you are obese, you will very likely develop Type II diabetes. I used to be stage 4 diabetic, with an A1C of 9.8 before 2017. So I took control of my health in 2017 and lost 70 pounds of weight in 4 1/2 months. I felt great! I went from 215 pounds down to 145.0 pounds. After just 30 days, my A1C dropped from 9.8 to 6.0 (which is prediabetic). I literally got rid of my diabetes in 30 days, from losing 30 pounds. The first 8 pounds was emptying out my stomach of food, so I realistically lost a solid 22 pounds in 30 days. I ate 500 calories a day and walked it all off, which was effectively like eating nothing.

In hindsight, I now realize that I did it the wrong way. Starving yourself is not sustainable. The BEST way to lose weight is to eat a high protein diet of baked fish, chicken of any type (just don't fry or bread it), Greek yogurt (which is lower in sugar), whey isolate protein shakes, cottage cheese, eggs, et cetera. Beans is a super food, which is not only very high in protein but also needed fiber. Protein and fiber make you feel full, satiated, because they take longer for your body to process, making you feel full longer instead of starving. Avocados are great too, but no more than one a day (because they are a medium caloric density food).

For sweets, I eat 2 Tablespoons of dark chocolate coated raisins a day, which is 110 calories total. Avoid sugars, milk chocolate, sodas, donuts and all pasties if you want to lose weight. Avoid all type of breads. If you do crave bread, eat Dave's 21wholegrain bread (70 calories per slice). I usually take ONE piece of Dave's bread and fold it over with a big handful of sliced chicken breast from a package, loaded with my favorite mustard and Italian spice sprinkled on it. Yummy!

Anyway, I know this is not about your teeth per say, but it is all health related. This is bonus information. You CAN lose weight, no matter how fat you are. Make it your goal to start eating a healthy diet, and not to lose weight, and then you will lose weight automatically over a year. You can crash diet, but will 90% likely gain it all back soon after. If you eat healthy from now on, you will lose weight slowly 1/2 to 1 pounds a week), and WILL succeed because it is sustainable and enjoyable. Stay away from processed foods, fried foods and use high calorie density foods sparingly (oils, butter, nuts, cream, sugar... all the addictive stuff). Here are some helpful sayings that I've adopted to help me eat right...

Remember, if it's in your house it's in your mouth! 

What you eat today you will crave tomorrow!

We make bad decisions when we are hungry!

So don't bring junk into your home, and then you won't eat it. If you stop off at MacDonald's today, you will most definitely want it again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. I sure do! I love a McDonald's Fish Fillet baptized in tartar sauce! I miss when I was a teenager, when McDonalds' steamed their Fish Fillets. The buns were so tender. Now the bread is hard. McDonald's ain't anywhere near what it used to be. I hate the foamy milkshakes at McDonald's today. When I was a kid they were like What-A-Burger's shakes still are today, with a real ice-cream texture that you could eat by using your straw as a spoon! Anyway, if you eat these type of foods today, YOU WILL crave them tomorrow. So one of the secrets to losing weight is to start by eating all healthy foods today, and then you will begin to crave them in the days to follow, until you backslide and go to McDonalds...lol.

I love you all with God's love. I care about people, which is why I like to share helpful information with others. Take care of your teeth and your health, and you will be a happier person. God gave us the gift of life, it is up to us to be good stewards of our health. I moved to Pensacola, Florida in July of 2021. I have never seen so many grossly obese people in all my life. I've read that Houston, Texas is worst of all, the city of butterballs! I am as guilty as anyone as an American of falling prey to our decadent society in so many ways. 

My longtime free grace Gospel preaching ministry friend, Curtis Smale, suffered a stroke in early January and died a couple weeks later in the 17th. Curtis weighed 400 pounds and struggled much with his health. I often prayed for him and worried about his well-being. He was a good man, a born-again Christian and I will dearly miss him as a friend. Here is Curtis' ministry blog, which I hope you will read. Curtis exposed the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation, as I faithfully do. I only mention this since we are on the topic of taking care of our health. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!!!

I don't know about you, but I am determined to take better care of my health for the rest of my life, so I can serve the Lord for as long as I can, and enjoy my last days hopefully. Of course, we don't know what a day may bring forth (Proverbs 27:1), but at least we can do our part not to slowly hurt ourselves by making poor daily health choices. To God be the glory. Thank you for reading this. Jesus is precious!!!