Teeth　 　(2016.12.31)　

When I was young my father told me, "Take good care of your teeth so as not to be like me."

My father used a denture (false teeth). It was a partial denture. My father died young, 20 years ago, at the age of 54. But I heard he had started using a denture even younger, in his forties. I remember well that he loved sweet foods. Probably it was the main cause of his bad teeth.

Our family members knew about my father's dentures, but he tried to make it a secret outside. One day, when he was eating at a café, one of his friend said, "Oh!! Mr. Kuribayashi, your teeth seemed to have moved! Are you okay?" My father must have been bewildered badly, but he managed to conceal the fact, anyway.

As I was told by my father, I care about my teeth very well. I want to eat delicious food with my own teeth forever. Recently, it has become known that periodontal disease is related to more severe diseases such as diabetes and cerebral infarction. We should keep the oral cavity clean in order to protect our health of the whole body.

As a rule, I go to a dentist twice a year to have my dental stones removed and have my teeth cleaned up. It is always in June and December. Easy to remember, right? I went to the dentist just several days ago, because I want to start the new year with clean teeth.

Keeping our oral cavity healty is not so difficult. Be sure to brush your teeth carefully after each meal. Even when you cannot do it immediately, it is good just to rinse your mouth with water. I know most of my co-workers do not brush their teeth after lunch. Why don't they do it?, I wonder.

Now I use "soft"-type toothbrush. I was advised to do so by my dentist. The brand of the tooth paste which I use is "ConCool". This is a brand that my female friend, who is dental hygienists, gave me as a present. That was in 2010, and I still use the same brand and keep my teeth healthy.

By the way, do you know "8020 movement"? It is the movement promoted by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the Japanese Dental Association. It means that we will keep more than 20 teeth at the age of 80. Now I have 32 teeth including wisdom teeth(Oyashirazu). Of course, I will aim for 8020. I will even try to achieve 8028 instead of 8020.

If I could achieve 8028, I would like to report it on this homepage. In that case, I want you to praise me a lot, OK? It should be the year 2053 that I will be 80 years old. I hope that this homepage still exists at that time. More importantly, I hope that the world will be peaceful enough to talk about the number of our teeth when I get 80.