50+, terrible at brushing and oral hygene in general. Actually lived in the jungle for years, almost like a caveman. 25+ years without a single dentist visit. Was in Thailand last spring, went to a dentistry shop in the mall as a walk-in, paid about 45 dollars for a deep cleaning and panoramic x-ray. Other than some startlingly crunky plaque in the rinse and spit cycles, zero cavities, zero need for intervention. It all comes down to the microbiome. I blame the complete lack of 'antiseptic' mouthwash and other interventions that skew the microbial populations, combined with just plain good luck.

I refuse to use antibiotic soaps either. I reserve the tools of sterility for the space in front of my laminar flow hood and the like when preparing live cultures for cheeses and brews. I lived where fluoridated water was a practice during my early years when my teeth had formed - as that's actually when the flouride has the most impact...once the teeth are built, there's little effect from consuming flouride on the enamel.

Later in late grade-school I lived in a place where fluoridated water had not happened, and so the school was doing a routine annual flouride mouth rinse-and-spit routine in the class. Was a 'conscientious objector' causing some chagrin for the teachers, they would pass out the little cup of chemical brew and start the timer, while i just stared at the paper cup and got threatened with having to write "I will ...." sentences as punishment. Even that didn't really have any impact on my actions. Adding another hashmark by my name on the blackboard as a tally of pages of meaningless repetitive sentences which I would never actually do or turn in. That had zero leverage against my test scores or passing any subject. So what if I couldn't go out to recess to sweat on a bare dirt playground with zero swings or other appeal. Fine by me.

But, by 3rd grade I already had my own two-stage steromicroscope and was acutely aware of the need for balanced microbiomes in all of life, learning about soil and aquatic microbiomes from my grandfather. So, very much not the normal kid.

All that aside, my gums could use more care, so I'm trying to be more diligent and brush daily with salt, baking soda and the tiniest bit of fennel and mint oil. Its showing some improvement.