If you take excellent care of your teeth throughout your entire life, you can expect to keep your permanent teeth for many decades. However, chronic conditions (such as diabetes), genetics and your diet can still lead to tooth loss as you age. When your teeth are lost as a senior citizen, it doesn’t mean your smile has to take a hit. We can restore your beautiful smile with dentures and partial dentures, giving you the confidence and health you want!

Can You Keep Your Natural Teeth?

Keeping your natural teeth is easy and only takes a few minutes a day caring for your teeth properly. You can keep your natural teeth through:

• Brushing your teeth every single day, at least twice a day, if not after every meal. The American Dental Association recommends brushing your teeth at least twice a day, for at least 2 minutes each time. Brush all tooth surfaces with fluoride toothpaste, in all different directions. Especially brush your teeth before going to bed at night.
• Follow your brushing with proper flossing. Floss 1-2 times each day, flossing up into the gumline to get stuck plaque. Use 18 inches of new floss every time you floss, using a new section of floss for every few teeth. Scrape your teeth with the floss as you go. Skipping flossing means you skip out on about 40% of your tooth surfaces.
• Use fluoride products such as gels, mouthwashes (which also kill mouth bacteria) or toothpastes. Fluoride will help protect against plaque and decay.
• Skip foods that are high in sugar or acids (like carbonic acid in carbonation and citric acid in juices, lemonade and fruits). The less sugar you eat, the less plaque your mouth makes and the fewer oral health problems you have. Wait to brush about 30 minutes if you drink soda or other acidic substances.
• Avoid tobacco and alcohol use, as these decay the teeth and damage the gums rather quickly.
• Go to dental appointments, and especially the recommended cleanings and comprehensive exams every 6 months. These appointments are vital for catching tooth decay and gum disease before they cause gum recession and tooth loss.

Factors that Contribute to Tooth Loss

Coincidentally, all the recommendations we provided you to keep your natural teeth are the same factors that will contribute to tooth loss. However, it’s the action of NOT doing all those recommendations that can lead you to tooth loss. Your oral hygiene is the #1 factor in your risk for losing your teeth and needing dentures in the future. Seeing the dentist (or not seeing the dentist) is also one of the major factors that determines tooth loss.

When dentists see patients frequently, they find any small oral health problems that lead to major problems in the future. If you keep up on our recommendations, your likelihood for tooth loss is minimal. However, some patients may do all that they can and still find that they have tooth loss as they age. This can simply happen because the body breaks down with age. Other patients will genetically have weak tooth enamel or chronic conditions that affect their oral health (like diabetes or heart disease) that they can’t help.

How Common Is Tooth Loss?

Tooth loss won’t happen to everyone, but it does happen to an alarming amount of people. This is partly due to poor oral hygiene habits that millions of people have. Studies show that only about 58% of people in the United States visit the dentist each year. Of those, not everyone sees a dentist twice a year. Many fewer brush their teeth twice a day or even every day. Studies show that 49% of men brush their teeth only once a day, while 57% of women brush only once. This can quickly lead to tooth decay, gum disease and tooth loss.

The statistics are astounding:

• 92% of people have or have had tooth decay
• Over 64.7 million American adults have gum disease, which leads to tooth loss.
• Adults between 20 and 64 in the U.S. have an average of 25 remaining teeth instead of the normal 28 (after wisdom teeth removal).
• 3.75% of American adults have no teeth left. This is referred to as toothlessness or “edentulism”.
• According to the American College of Prosthodontists, 36 million Americans don’t have teeth and more than 120 million are missing at least 1 tooth.
• The ACP estimates that about 200 million Americans in the future will experience at least partial tooth loss due to oral hygiene and diet habits.

Dentures to Restore a Smile

About 90% of Americans with complete tooth loss invest in dentures. Dentures are a great way to restore a smile that has been affected by tooth loss. You don’t have to experience complete tooth loss to get dentures either. These are dental appliances custom-made for an individual who has had significant tooth loss. That tooth loss can be partial or complete. Missing teeth (even just a single tooth as well) can lead to problems with chewing, eating, shifting teeth, difficulty speaking, changes in facial appearance, malnutrition and stress on other teeth.

Depending on your tooth loss situation, we can create partial or full dentures that can be removable or implanted into your jaws. Implant-secured dentures are the most ideal because they are held in place with dental implants and you don’t have to worry about slippage or other complications. However, for people with gum disease, removable dentures may be better. No matter if you need dentures for only a few teeth, a dental implant for one, or full, custom-made dentures for all your teeth, you are improving your oral health by getting dentures. They can change your smile, your health and your life. Call Mountain Aire Dentistry today at (303) 731-7755 to get fitted for your dentures!