Even later for poor/lower class people - my mom was born in the early 1950s and she didn't start brushing her teeth until her teens. I used to think losing all your teeth was a natural part of aging.
It is natural. I brush/floss assiduously and am looking at losing them all. People older than me usually have a mouth full of crowns, implants and dentures.
It's not natural, adult teeth do not spontaneously die off and fall out; adults only lose their teeth because of disease or trauma. When I was a kid I thought it was exactly the same as losing your baby teeth. Greying is natural, tooth loss is not.
My grandparents (all 4) had lost all their teeth by their late 40s-early 50s. It was due to never brushing their teeth (they never owned a toothbrush!) plus smoking - not age. I currently have plenty of friends and acquaintances in the late 40s-early 50 age range and not a single one has a full set of dentures like all my grandparents did.
>In 1960, about 49 percent of adults aged 65-74 had lost all of their teeth. In 2012, about 13 percent of this age bracket was in the same predicament.
If tooth loss was just a normal part of aging there would be no way to make such drastic improvements.
My husband also brushes and flosses everyday and regularly has tooth issues. I know exactly why though - It's entirely due to poor toothbrushing technique.
There's also a lot of variation between teeth. Smooth teeth are less likely to develop caries than teeth with deep crevices, and some people have brittle teeth that break easily.
It's not just how well you brush your teeth.
Another factor is what you eat/drink. If you drink sweetened drinks all day, your teeth are probably going to suffer, and I doubt that brushing teeth twice a day is going to make up for it.
