Tooth loss or teeth loss is very common to seniors; as common as diminishing eye sight and hearing impairment upon reaching our senior age. No matter how painstakingly we watched over our dental care in the past years, we will still lose that tooth, one way or another.
The problem with tooth loss is that once the milk tooth gave way for the permanent ones, you can never grow another set over again. The permanent ones should stay with you for life or else, you need to get an artificial tooth to replace it. This is exactly why children are reprimanded again and again as to how important their dental hygiene should be; most of the time, children don’t heed hence premature tooth loss.
Tooth loss is embarrassing especially if you lose those frontal ones while losing your molars can affect your nutritional intake likewise your digestive system. According to data gathered by dental association in the US, the leading cause of tooth loss is periodontal disease or gum disease. It was even found out that there are actually 80% of American adults having periodontal problems which can lead to tooth loss later in life; the most common of which is gingivitis.
Normally, you lose your teeth within your senior years but you can delay it if you take care of it very well by regularly visiting your dentist and staying away from the things that will destroy your healthy teeth. Apparently, your overall lifestyle affects your teeth. Smoking, for one, can increase your risk for tooth loss; so does diabetes and hypertension.
Aside from poor dental hygiene, you can also lose a relatively healthy tooth if you are active in extreme and contact sports. Some examples of popular contact sports are boxing, hockey and judo while extreme sports are skateboarding, dirt biking and snowboarding.
Well, dentures are a thing of the past as seniors are now opting for the more costly dental implants. With dental implants, you don’t have to take it out and put it back; it fits your mouth snugly and you take care of it just the same as how you would take care of a real tooth. To date, dental implants are becoming the number one choice for dental replacement. But take note seniors, these implants are done surgically with titanium screws to support a particular tooth. Usually, a dental implant patient should undergo general anesthesia so if you are planning to have yours done; you should do it with trained and certified dentists and surgeons only.
Unfortunately, most seniors choose to stay toothless and will not seek dental help even if they need it badly due to high cost of dental repairs.
