Please don’t plan for dentures!! Plan to keep your teeth for life. Let’s, explore a bit further.
What are dentures?
A denture is a prosthetic appliance to replace missing teeth. Dentures can be made from plastic or metal. They can replace all of the teeth in your mouth or only a few.
Does everyone lose teeth when they get older?
No, absolutely NOT! Losing teeth is NOT a standard part of the ageing process. Teeth need to be removed because of disease. Tooth disease may be associated to one or more of these:
- Trauma/broken tooth
- Cracked tooth
- Dental caries
- Gum disease
- Erosion – can be diet related
- Unsuccessful dental treatment
- Infection
Is tooth loss genetic?
In general – NO! A very small number of people may have genetic mouth conditions that will mean they will lose teeth as a result. The majority of people, however, simply have the same bad habits as their family members. Here are some examples.
Examples:
Parents did not have regular dental visits and kids don’t have regular dental visits
Parents eat sweets every day and kids learnt to have sweets every day
Parents smoke and kids smoke
Parents don’t brush their teeth regularly and kids don’t brush their teeth regularly
Parents always choose pulling out a tooth over saving a tooth and kids…..starting to get the idea?
Best way to avoid getting dentures, like your parents or siblings:
- Regular dental checks – we cannot stress this enough. A simple 30min visit once a year can be the difference between struggling to eat for the rest of your life with artificial teeth or enjoying all the foods you love with your own natural teeth
- Quit smoking! If you have not so already, this is the best thing you can do for your mouth and the rest of your body
- We challenge you to keep a journal of all the foods you eat within a day, for one week and then bring it to Corio Central Dental. One of our dentist will go through the list with you, to see which foods contain sugar. You will be blown away when you find out!!