Bad News for Bad Teeth

Both my father and my father-in-law had terrible teeth. Both my father and my father-in-law had dementia before they died.


My dad had all his teeth removed very early on. I remember he used to bite his ice cream when I was little and it would make my siblings and I cringe. Of course, it didn't affect his false teeth, but we could just imagine the effect it would have on ours. I recall trying to bite mine, just to see if I could. Silly. Anyway, my dad had very serious dementia in his last few years. The doctors didn't know if he had Alzheimer's or if it was because of his diabetes, but the results were the same.




My father-in-law's teeth fell out, wore down to the gums, rotted. A couple of years before he died, when he was in his 80's, we took him to an oral surgeon to see about false teeth. The sweet doctor proceeded to describe the procedure and left out no details of what would be involved for him. When he had finished describing the black eyes and pain involved, the doctor asked what he thought. My father-in-law said, "I don't believe I'm gonna do it." The doctor responded, "I think that is a good idea. My own father has similar teeth, and I advised him the very same. There is no reason for you to go through that. It is only cosmetic at this point, your teeth are not infected, I would leave them alone." Integrity. It is always nice to see.


They were quite certain that my father-in-law did have Alzheimer's before he died. It was very hard to see him lose his ability to function. This was the same with both. My dad got violent at times as his illness progressed; my father-in-law didn't.


But what about the title of this post? I am getting to that. I have just run across an article that ties bad teeth to dementia. It should motivate folks to eat well, brush, floss and have their teeth cleaned faithfully. Of course there are other factors, and perhaps the teeth thing just comes with being older the same as dementia, but I plan to continue to be diligent.


I wonder what Mona Lisa's teeth were like...