Separating fact from fiction is important when it comes to your dental health. You need to understand how to care for your teeth and gums to protect your smile. Dental health also contributes to overall well being, so you should know the truth about the following myths:

Myth: Baby teeth don’t matter.
Truth: Not only do primary teeth serve as placeholders for permanent teeth, but they also help children learn to chew and speak properly.

Myth: People naturally lose teeth as they get older.
Truth: With proper care that starts at an early age, you can keep your natural teeth throughout your life. The average lifespan is 75 to 80 years old, so teach your children to brush and floss as soon as their teeth start to erupt.

Myth: You can place an aspirin or clove oil next to a sore tooth for relief.
Truth: Both of these home remedies can burn the soft oral tissue and cause further problems. Try a warm compress, over-the-counter pain medication, or a numbing agent like Orajel. Call your dentist if the pain lasts for more than a day or two.

Myth: Extraction of teeth can weaken your eyesight.
Truth: In the past, routine checkups weren’t available. As a result, older patients typically visited the dentist only for removal of teeth. Eyesight tends to get weaker with age, so people drew an incorrect correlation between the removal of teeth and changes in eyesight.

Myth: It’s no big deal if you have one or two missing teeth.
Truth: When you lose even a single tooth, your appearance and oral health may decline. Remaining teeth often shift to fill in the gap, causing alignment and bite problems. You may also feel self-conscious about your smile.