National Love Your Teeth Day

People are always on the go. We get up in the mornings, shower, eat breakfast, go to work, go to the gym, and whatever else one may do during their typical weekday. When do we ever sit back and take the time to really appreciate and reflect on how important our teeth are? One does not simply stop whatever they’re doing to check their smiles everyday when we have so many other important things going on around us. That’s why there is one day out of the year that honors smiles around the world: National Love Your Teeth Day! September 20^th is a day to celebrate and promote dental health and awareness for all people worldwide. The theme for this year is “Healthy Mouth, Healthy Family.”

In honor of National Love Your Teeth Day, here are a few fun facts about, well, teeth!

1. On a daily basis, your mouth is a home to about 100,000,000 micro-creatures who are swimming, feeding, reproducing, and depositing waste in your mouth. Makes you want to brush doesn’t it?

2. Most believe shiny, white teeth are beautiful here in our nation, but did you know in medieval Japan white teeth were considered unattractive? Women used roots and inks to stain their teeth black, which they felt was much more attractive. 

3. Dental floss was first produced in 1882. If you floss once a day, you will use about 5 miles of floss in your lifetime.

4. Dentists recommend that you keep your toothbrush at least six feet away from your toilet to avoid many airborne particles that result from flushing. 

5. A long time ago, humans utilized charcoal or ground up chalk, ashes, lemon juice, and honey tobacco mix to clean their teeth. It was only about 100 years ago that the toothpaste was invented. 

6. Did you know that you start developing teeth while you’re still inside your mother’s uterus? Teeth begin developing when a fetus is about 6 weeks old, but only erupt from the gums between the ages of 6 and 12.

7. No two people in the world have the same set of teeth. This is why your teeth can also function as your “fingerprint” because they are unique and only you have them. 

8. Did you know that an average human being spends just about 38.5 days of their lifetime brushing their teeth? 

9. Our teeth are valuable necessities in our lives. Our mouths are gateways into our bodies, so we must remember to maintain our oral health habits in order to have a strong, healthy lifestyle for years to come. 

So remember to show some extra love to your pearly whites this year on National Love Your Teeth Day!