Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

is why the heck are sooo many truck drivers missing teeth? I’m here (freezing) at the Stockman’s TS South St.Paul, MN. It’s 49 degrees! I’m in recovery from not being able to start the beast (my truck) at the fuel island at Pilot. It took a $500,000 wrecker to assist me “pop” the clutch to get the engine going. Of course, the KW dealer found nothing wrong. In better days, my carrier would replace the original starter and worn out batteries, but not in this economy. The heck with my problems – we’re talking choppers here. The drivers I “lounged” with at this dealership had one thing in common, other than being fat, they all were missing teeth.

And when I l got to the TS (truck stop), a fellow company driver came up to me to “shoot the breeze.” Yup, all but two teeth were missing. He reminded me of Alvin the Chipmunk with a Southern accent. The whole “grill” was just about all gone. I’m not sure if he had any in back. I’m sorry to say that he was from Tennessee. A great State, but a lot of toothless drivers seem to be from there and Kentucky and Arkansas and Louisiana. And before you write that comment, yes, I am also missing teeth, and I’m from Florida not Tennessee or those other places. At least I have all my front teeth.

Why did I lose those teeth? I, apparently was grinding them (down to nothing) while driving. After one root canal, I opted to extract them. Why do we water board anyone when there are root canals? And why not replace them? One is the cost and the other is I don’t really need them. No one can tell my “condition” and as long as I can continue to eat, I’m cool.

But what about all these other drivers, and I might add men and women are all members of the bad teeth toothless club. Some of them, based on their overall appearance, just don’t care. Others have health and dental, but while insurance pays for the removal, it does not pay the replacement. That’s cosmetic, like removing varicose veins.

A perfect smile, according to Forbes Magazine, can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000. George Washington used wood to replace his teeth. Dentist Tom Roemer, who works out of the Iowa 80 truck stop, says in a CNN article by Bob Greene: “The business model of most dental offices, he said, is based on teeth-cleaning: A dentist builds up his or her list of loyal patients and their families who come in to get their teeth cleaned, and when they need fillings or crowns, the office is there for them. The truck stop dentist, by necessity, turns that business model inside out.I usually see a patient once, and then never see him again," he said. "Truckers aren’t going to say to me, ‘I’ll be back for a cleaning on September 23 at 2 in the afternoon.’ They can’t plan where they’re going to be. I make patient files for the people who come in, but I know that I’ll probably never have a reason to open the files after they walk out the door. These are mostly one-time patients."

But whatever the reason, it’s too bad so many drivers have so many missing teeth. It’s bad for the image of the professional truck driver.I personally am uncomfortable talking to some with little or no teeth. I (almost) just don’t hear what they’re saying. Instead, I’m thinking this guy or gal has no teeth. And yellow or brown teeth gross me out. That old joke: “Dr. my teeth are yellow. Dr. tells the patient: “Well, wear a brown tie.” just doesn’t “cut” it. Too bad the FMCSA doesn’t make (having) teeth and a healthy mouth a must for truck drivers. When you can’t pick out the truck drivers from the rest of the patrons in a restaurant, you’ll know we’ve come a long way – baby.

Photo credits: http://pro.corbis.com/images/CB049512.jpg?size=572&uid={9F1846E5-1598-4710-AC62-5353E1456967}, http://www.nola.com/forums/dining/index.ssf?artid=11179, http://www.grilledcornonthecob.com/images/19-eating-corn-onthe-cob.jpg **The entire CNN article can be found at: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/08/greene.truckstop/index.html