Aging: The Dentist and the Older Me

English: *Portrait of Pierre Fauchard's historical book Surgical dentist. The following artwork was obtained from The Library of French Medicine website available on http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/sfhad/vol1/art05/article.htm (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I suppose I could write a book about how different my life is becoming as I age. I am a walking talking study in gerontology. I have written about the way youngers treat the older me and how I feel about my life experiences but I have never written about going to the dentist.

Like most people, my dental visits are not a favorite of mine even though dentists are very nice people and necessary to my health. Over the years I would say that my experiences have been pretty typical. Nothing really changed from the time I was 20 other than a few methods. But when I went to my new dentist this last week it was a totally different story. We talked about, gasp, my age!

The poor hygienist was saying that I didn't look my age and the dentist was saying that a woman "of my age" has to think about how long they need for their fillings to last and if we really need to have a procedure when our teeth would probably be okay until the day we die.

I just turned 73 a couple of weeks ago...seriously I had not even considered dying anytime soon. My teeth are not falling out and if they do I will get them fixed the right way. I'm just a little vain so I may be a little funny that way.

So, my question is "When do you consider quitting medications, abandoning dental care and throwing in the towel?" Anyone have an answer for me?

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