By Jim Heffernan
This book came to me as a freeby from my Dentist (Dr. Zike, Green Tree Dental). Yeah, like I’m ever going to turn down a free book. I have been thinking of writing an “I’ve been thinking” column about the link between good dental care and living longer. This is a 10 chapter book and chapter 9 gave me all the information I wanted.
The first 8 chapters were a bonus I did not expect. The sub-title of the book is “The unfair reason you get cavities and what to do about it” and the bulk of the book details the reasons we get cavities and gum disease.
He talks about genetics, dry mouth, diet, biofilm and ph in the first part of the book. Throughout the book, he sprinkles 4 graphic symbols that invite the reader to signals parts of the book where you’re urged to ask yourself 
how what he talks about applies to you, 
alerts you to sections of the book where he might revert to scientific term that can be off-putting. 99% of the book is written in a light conversational style that conveys the points he make plainly and painlessly. 
are particular points in the book that advise us what we need to do to prevent needless cavities and gum disease. Finally, there’s where he points out the really important passages of the book. He suggests that if you really don’t have time to read the book, you can search for the “pay attention” 
passages and gain the essential information of the book.
The second part of the book, chapters 7, 8, and 9, devoted to “Taking Action”. Chapter 7 and 8 about protective stategies to improve your personal dental (and whole body) health) and devising your own plan to keep the time you spend at the Dentist to a minimum.
Chapter 9 is a short 6 pages that packs an amazing amount of information into it. He concludes the chapter with “BITE SIZE TAKEAWAY—Gum disease can affect heart health, Alzheimer’s, cancer, diabetes and pregnancy. Taking care of your teeth is taking care of your whole self!
I am haunted by the number of dear friends and family members who have suffered premature deaths. I believe, poor dental health contributed to their early deaths. I just remember too many missing teeth among them. Some of them may have just had an irrational fear of the Dentist. Most of them just never had good dental insurance and avoided the Dentist because they did not have the money.
I find it utterly shocking and scandalous that our commercialized medical system does not offer dental coverage as an integral part of Medicare and as part of all insurance plans. I fully believe our miserley outlook when it comes to dental care is killing too many of us.
The author earned his DMD at the Oregon School of Dentistry in 1979. He practices dentistry in Albany Oregon and is also CEO of Oral Bio Tech which develops and markets products designed to promote good dental health.
Available at Cloud and Leaf Bookstore Manzanita, free at some Dentist Offices, free e-book available at https://carifree.com/product/why-me/ or I can e-mail a PDF of book, contact me at codger817@gmail.com
86 pages, published 2020
