Approaching 70 years of age with no dental issues as yet... yeah, you read it right, not even once... sounds quite unbelievable. But fortunately, not impossible! Col Sharma has been following a good oral hygiene regimen since childhood and it has kept him away from dental problems. He credits his parents for inculcating in him a habit of never ignoring his pearly whites. With the right oral health routine, he makes us believe that it’s possible to keep your teeth for life & keep them healthy naturally, without medicines. We spoke to him and here is his story.

Ashok Kumar Sharma
69 years, Ex-Serviceman
Gurgaon

When I think of my dental journey, my memories take me back to my childhood. At a very early age, parents started teaching about cleaning of teeth, which we sometimes do not take seriously. In my early childhood, first thing I used to do after waking up was washing my mouth with typical Indian ‘Kullah‘ (cleaning / rinsing of teeth with water).

My parents used to bring Keekar (Babool) ‘datun’ (natural brush). I remember sometimes they used to bring Neem datun, which I would avoid as it tasted bitter. Sometimes I used to take salt, mix it up with mustard oil and used to clean the teeth with the paste. By this time I had formed the habit of daily cleaning of teeth first thing in the morning after waking up.

When I grew up and started going out for morning walks, if I came across a Sheesham tree, I would break a small twig / branch from the tree and make a ’datun’. Later on, I also started doing datun from Neem tree.

By the time I went to college, tooth paste & tooth brush had become popular and a good habit of brushing the teeth in the morning was formed. Since that time, there has never been a day in my life when I felt lazy & did not brush / clean my teeth in the morning. In fact, I never had breakfast, without cleaning my teeth. Sometimes when toothpaste was not available, I have brushed my teeth with Eucalyptus or Neem tree leaves. While travelling, I ensured I carried toothpaste & tooth brush, otherwise it was the first thing to be purchased in the new station.

At home, I had formed a habit of doing ‘kullah’ or mouth rinsing after taking food and subsequently after taking anything. While attending some official get-together, where the opportunity of doing ‘kullah’ was not there, I would do, at the earliest possible, may be after reaching home. Because one thing I had understood that any food remnants in the teeth lead to decaying and infecting the teeth. Another thing I had learnt was not to try & remove these food remnants with tooth pick, which in fact creates cavity in the teeth joints, stores food remnants. So I started avoiding use of tooth pick & ensured regular rinsing of mouth with water after eating / drinking anything.

I am approaching 70 years of age & till date I have not had any dental problem. I have been to a dentist only during yearly medical check up & I was told that I have 32 dental points, maximum possible points, have 32 teeth and all the teeth are intact & healthy. All the above was possible by following the advice of my parents & I take pride in saying that I have been able to pass on these good habits to my children, who are also very regular in brushing / cleaning of teeth. In nutshell, I had a wonderful dental journey.

(About Ashok Kumar Sharma : An Electrical Engineer from Punjab Engineering College by qualification, Col A K Sharma is an ex-serviceman, having served in the Indian Army for 26 1/2 years. He also worked as Vice President at Essel Shyam Communications Pvt. Ltd for 15 years. He is currently leading a retired life & in his free time loves going for morning walks, yoga and listening to music.)

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