13.
“Brush your teeth with fluoride-containing toothpaste twice a day; floss daily. It’s good for your teeth and gums and improves heart and lung health! Seriously, you decrease your risk of pneumonia and heart attack.”
—40, New York
“I’ve been an ICU nurse for seven years. Please brush your teeth regularly. There is a definite correlation between oral health and overall health state. Patients with poor dental hygiene, more often than not, have heart and lung issues. Hell, the sheer amount of infective endocarditis (heart infection) that doctors traced to a bad tooth boggles my mind. .,, It always surprises me when we have patients in my ICU, and they don’t brush their teeth or even think to ask me for a toothbrush. The patient who doesn’t think to brush their teeth in the morning is sicker than the one who does scrub off the morning breath. I’d say about 80% of my patients don’t think to brush their teeth at all during the day. Brush your teeth, and go to the dentist.”
—42, Alabama
