Here are some fun dental facts to share with the entire family!
Did you know……
- If you don’t floss, you miss cleaning 40% of your tooth surfaces. Make sure you brush and floss twice a day!
- An average American spends 38.5 total days brushing teeth over a lifetime.
- 73% of Americans would rather go grocery shopping than floss.
- Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least six (6) feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.
- More than 300 types of bacteria make up dental plaque.
- Say cheese! The calcium and phosphorous found in cheese is healthy for your teeth – it reduces the pH level in plaque and re-mineralizes the enamel.
- Academy of General dentistry, the average person only brushes for 45 to 70 seconds a day, the recommended amount of time is 2-3 minutes.
- If you’re right handed, you will chew your food on your right side. If you’re left handed, you will tend to chew your food on your left side.
- In 200 AD, the Romans used a mixture of bones, eggshells, oyster shells and honey to clean their teeth.
- The second most common disease in the United States is tooth decay. The first is the common cold.
- The greater the amount of time food remains in the mouth, the greater the chance for decay.
- The sequence that foods are eaten can determine the risk for cavities. If you eat sugary foods after meals, you decrease the chance for cavities, as opposed to eating sugary foods alone.
- The average human produces 25,000 quarts of saliva in a lifetime. That is enough saliva to fill 2 swimming pools.
- The hardest tissue in the body is the enamel covering our teeth.
- Just like finger prints, tooth prints are unique to each individual.
- A tooth that has been knocked out starts to die within 15 minutes, but if you put it in milk or hold it in your mouth it will survive longer.
- You are supposed to replace your toothbrush after you have an episode of flu, cold or other viral infections. Notorious microbes can implant themselves on the toothbrush bristles leading to re-infection.
- In the middle ages, people believed that dog’s teeth boiled in wine made an excellent mouth rinse for tooth decay prevention.
- Dogs have 42 teeth, cats have 30 teeth, pigs have 44 teeth, and an armadillo has 104 teeth.
- The snail’s mouth is no larger than the head of a pin, but it can have over 25,000 teeth!
- There are 10-12 teaspoons of sugar in a single can of soda.
- We buy 14 million gallons of toothpaste every year!
- An average American will use 14 inches of dental floss every year.
- More than 51 million hours of school are lost each year by children due to dental related illness.
