Looking after your teeth.

When people ask how I take care of my teeth, I usually say that I started with a bit of a disadvantage.

My teeth were never perfectly straight, and I have loved sweet foods since childhood.
You could say that sugar and I have had a very long relationship.

To make matters worse, I also had a bad habit for many years—late-night snacking.
Not just occasionally, but quite regularly.

Looking back, it is almost a miracle that my teeth have survived this long.

For someone like me, the most helpful invention has been the waterpik.
Because my teeth are not perfectly aligned, ordinary brushing alone cannot easily clean the narrow spaces between them.
But a strong jet of water can reach those places very effectively.
These days, I depend on it quite a lot.

In fact, my waterpik is so important that I even take it with me when I travel.
It is a little inconvenient to pack, but for me it is practically a necessity.

And since it is an electric device, I usually use bottled water when I travel abroad.

In the past, I once used mineral-rich tap water and ended up damaging a few devices, which taught me an expensive lesson.

When we think about it, humans have tried to clean their teeth for thousands of years.
Around 3500 BC, people used small tree branches as primitive toothbrushes.

Later, in 15th-century China, brushes made with animal bristles were invented.

Even earlier, ancient Egyptians used powdered substances to clean their teeth.

But modern tube toothpaste did not appear until the 1890s.

Human life expectancy also tells an interesting story.
In prehistoric times, people lived only about 20 to 30 years on average.

In the Middle Ages, it rose slightly to around 30 to 40 years.

Today, in many developed countries, people often live over 80 years thanks to hygiene, antibiotics, and modern dental care.

Sometimes I feel lucky to have been born in this era.

But the future may bring something even more amazing.

Researchers in Japan are developing a drug that could make a “third set of teeth” grow.

Humans normally have two sets of teeth—baby teeth and permanent teeth.
However, scientists believe that a hidden third set of tooth buds exists in the jaw, but its growth is suppressed by a certain protein.

If that protein can be blocked, the third set of teeth may finally grow.
Experiments have already succeeded in animals, like mice and ferrets 족제비and researchers hope this treatment may become available for humans around 2030.
If that happens, people who lose their teeth might no longer need dentures 틀니 or implants.

They might simply grow new teeth.
Whenever I hear this news, I find myself thinking one thing:
I hope to live long enough to see that day.

You still don't know what you're like when you're 70 years old...