From the moment that our first tooth erupts, we are taught the importance of care, and maintenance of our teeth. Our milk teeth we are told to clean on a regular basis, even though after around 11 years we naturally lose them.
We are conditioned to clean our teeth, at least twice a day, and to go to the dentist for regular check-ups, even when we have no pain. We exalt the condition of our teeth even though the protective dentine covering our teeth is the strongest thing that we have in our bodies.
We are programmed to care immensely about our teeth, even though they are approximately 10 years younger than us and we only use them for a very small proportion of any one day.
So why then do not give a similar respect for our musculoskeletal system, for which we are only given one set. Why, when we use the 610 muscles and 205 bones all day, every day, from the moment we are born, to the moment we die, whether awake or asleep, do we not consider regular maintenance on this system.
Our teeth, when they erupt, erupt full size. They do not grow like our bones and muscles as we mature in our teenage years. Our teeth are not subjected to the daily stresses of posture, and the exercises of daily living that our musculoskeletal system is. Our teeth can also be easily replaced with dentures that will do exactly the same job as our natural teeth and look just as good. So why oh why, therefore do we not respect the muscles and bones that are the framework on which, and within which, the whole of the rest of our bodies exists and performs and consider a regular maintenance appointment to a chiropractor.
You can run, walk, sit, stand, sleep without ever needing to use one single tooth in your mouth. But you cannot even breath, let alone do any of the aforementioned activities, without the co-ordinated function of your musculoskeletal system.
Healthy teeth will not effect your activities of daily living one jot – but an unhealthy musculoskeletal system will incapacitate your every movement.
18th May 2019