A smile to lighten your child's way.

The other day, one of The Art of Living teachers was lamenting the lack of parental knowledge on teeth care during her younger days. As a result, she was suffering from tooth decay and tooth-ache. I empathize with her as I had the same problem during my younger days.

I realized I had problems with my teeth when I got interested in girls. To reach out to them, I beamed them my most attractive smile. It was the best first step I have ever known. Then, I found decaying teeth. I quickly approach a dentist to do the necessary repairs. Having realized the importance of my teeth, I read up as much as I could on teeth care.

In those days, parents seldom bother to make sure we brush our teeth well. So, dental hygiene was neglected.

I found out that I had been taught teeth brushing wrongly. We believed that the softer bristled toothbrush was for children while the harder bristled toothbrush was for adults. For us adults, we thought it was, the harder the better. With certain things maybe, but certainly not tooth- brushing. Actually, too vigorous brushing with the hard bristled toothbrush can harm the enamel over a number of years. So, we ought to use the soft bristled toothbrush.

Other than the type of toothbrush used, the time taken to brush our teeth is often too hurried to do a good job. We should brushed for about two and a half minutes. Wow! Isn’t that a rather long time? That is true for many people, but to do it right, that is necessary.

If the intention is to reach difficult-to-reach places, even for the toothbrush, then dental floss have to be used.

Then comes the question of when we brush our teeth. As the purpose is to get rid of plaque and food particles we must brush after the last meal of the day. What about morning, when we wake up. Since no food was consumed during the night, bacteria is less and plaque has hardly any opportunity to form. So, I just rinse my mouth thoroughly to get rid of overnight saliva and feel the freshness on the inside of my mouth. If we wish to brush twice a day, we could do it after lunch. Once in a while, maybe twice a month, we could use some Listerine to gargle for about two minutes. This is what I do if I feel that I have a little bad breath or my gums are beginning to have problems. In this way, we can keep our teeth for many more years to come.
Another thing we need to think of is cigarette and smoking. Any doctor will tell us it can cause oral cancer. If we smoke often enough, we can also stain our teeth for a yellowish smile. Unfortunately, it is not the fashion to yellow our teeth. Together with bad breath, no man or woman is going to kiss that mouth no matter how ravishing the person is. (Of course, there are still some who would kiss anything! Even…. Ugh!) That is not the only thing that mouth will have to forgo! It will no longer taste food as well as the next mouth! There goes the wonderful pleasure of taste!

Our mouth is so important to us. Women know that besides the eyes, it is the most attractive part of the face. That is why they color their lips, reshape it with lipstick before they move out of the door. And when they meet a friend, they beam forth their shinning white teeth in a smile, a smile that would set the heart of a man like me beating a thousand and one times a minute. Wow!

When it comes to a man’s smile, the ladies are the only ones who can tell us how they feel. Over to you, ladies.