Title: Toothbrushing at a Specific Time of Day is an "Important" Factor for Longevity

Research has found that one of the "important" modifiable factors for extending life is brushing your teeth at a specific time of the day. The researchers wrote in a study published in the journal Aging: "In the past decade, the impact of oral health on public health and mortality rates among the elderly has garnered attention." They explored the association between dental health behaviors and all-cause mortality among 5,611 older adults from 1992 to 2009, calculating risk estimates for men and women separately. They found that brushing teeth at night before bed is a "significant" risk factor for longevity. Moreover, daily flossing and visiting the dentist were major risk factors for longevity. Additionally, not brushing teeth at night increases the risk by 20-35%. Furthermore, never using floss raises the risks by 30% compared to daily flossing. Not seeing a dentist in the past 12 months increases the risk by 30-50% compared to seeing a dentist two or more times, and mortality rates increased with the number of missing teeth. The researchers concluded that "oral health behaviors help maintain natural and healthy teeth, but they also appear to enhance survival among the elderly." A recent study published in the journal Community Dental Health and Oral Epidemiology confirmed these findings, as it looked at tooth loss and found that the number of teeth an individual has is significantly associated with their average life expectancy. The results indicated that those with 20 or more teeth at age 70 have a much greater chance of living longer than those with fewer than 20 teeth.