Sweet success shows we learned from the past
Dealing and caring for our teeth has changed a lot from care-free generation finds Les Reid
My parents had no teeth. They belonged to that pre-war generation who often chose to have a full set of dentures.
They were persuaded partly by the promise of having a Hollywood smile of flawless regular teeth and partly by the desire to escape from drilling and filling for good. It may seem a drastic solution to the problem of having an occasional toothache, but it worked for them.
They made no more trips to the dentist and they could smile with confidence as long as their dentures stayed in place.
There was an unintended consequence, however, which was the effect on the next generation. My brothers and I were left to our own devices where teeth were concerned.
We soon settled on the view that brushing of teeth was for display purposes and so we tended to brush them only in the morning to prepare an acceptable smile for the day ahead. We did not brush them at night because that seemed pointless as we were going to bed, not going out. We thought that brushing of teeth was like polishing shoes – a matter of keeping up appearances.
Looking back, our family suffered from a complete misunderstanding of the purpose of dental hygiene. The youngsters enjoyed sweets every day: gobstoppers, penny chews, slabs of toffee, sherbet dabs and peanut brittle, to name but few.
Every week our parents would treat us to some Quality Street, Everton mints, Blackcurrant eclairs and so on, with bottles of lemonade to wash it down. With all that sugar swilling around, we really needed to brush what was left of our teeth in the evening to protect them. But we didn’t.
Now, in late middle age, my brothers and I have terrible teeth, a collection of crowns, fillings and partial dentures which have kept several dentists gainfully employed for many years.
We do not blame our parents. They worked hard to give us a good start in life and it would be churlish to carp because they slipped up on one aspect. They are long gone now and we are well able to enjoy a good meal despite our flawed teeth, so it is no big deal that we have endured a little agony once in a while in the dentist’s chair.
However, there is a happy ending to this tale. The generation after mine have really good teeth. My brothers and I have ensured that our children acquired good habits of dental care.
We had learned from our own and our parents’ mistakes and we did our best to avoid repeating them. And our offspring have been equally prudent with their children.
Blunders will never cease. As long as humans exist, there will be opportunities for human error. But we learn from our mistakes and we can pass on our learning to the next generation.
So unless humanity blunders catastrophically into nuclear war or climate chaos, there is always a way to escape from past mistakes. ● Les Reid teaches a course on Humanism as part of City of Edinburgh Council adult education programme. He is a member of the Edinburgh branch of Humanist Society Scotland (www.humanism.scot)