As you grow older, maintaining good oral health continues to be important. In addition to seeing your dentist regularly, you should maintain everyday oral hygiene that helps prevent gum disease and decay. In addition to causing issues with your teeth and gums, these conditions can have a negative impact on your overall health.

Dental Health and Whole-Body Health

Oral and dental health are important not only in maintaining your teeth and gums, but in preventing problems such as heart disease and cardiovascular disease. Gum disease has been found to increase the risk of cardiovascular problems. Bacteria that builds up in the mouth if you have severe decay or gum disease can pass into the rest of the body, causing inflammation in the cardiovascular system. This can lead to severe and even fatal illness. [pullquote]Oral and dental health are important not only in maintaining your teeth and gums, but in preventing problems such as heart disease and cardiovascular disease.[/pullquote]

Making sure your teeth are strong and healthy also helps ensure that you can eat a healthy diet. With healthy teeth, or with high quality replacements, you will be able to eat all the foods your normally would, including high fiber fruits and vegetables that can be difficult to eat if your teeth are missing or suffering from decay. Regular visits to your dentist can help ensure that any problems are diagnosed and treated early.

Repair and Replacement

If you do have missing teeth, having them replaced will help you maintain your smile, the health of your jaw, and your regular diet. Damage to teeth should also be treated before your teeth are severely damaged or become uncomfortable and affect your ability to eat. Missing teeth can be replaced with implants, dentures, or bridges, depending upon the situation and the recommendation of your dentist. Damage to your teeth is addressed with restorations such as crowns or fillings. Internal damage, which can lead to severe discomfort due to nerve damage, is often repaired with a root canal.

If you have any questions about keeping your teeth healthy as you grow older, please contact our dental team at the doctor Family Dentistry to schedule an appointment or a consultation.

Implant dentistry is growing in popularity as more and more people turn to this method to replace missing teeth. Implants are permanent, stationary, and natural looking. They also help keep your jawbone healthy and help maintain the look of not just your smile but also your face over time. Barring damage, implants can last twenty years or more.

Dental Implants and Your Smile

If you are missing teeth—or even just one tooth—dental implants provide a long-lasting, natural looking replacement that will keep your teeth properly aligned and prevent the long term problems that can occur as a result of gaps in your smile.

Implants start with a titanium screw placed in your jawbone by your implant dentist. This anchors the visible portion of your new teeth and also functions much as a natural root would. Your natural tooth roots help stimulate growth of the jawbone whenever you chew. Because the implant roots bind to the bone, they also help keep the jawbone healthy and growing. The visible portion of the tooth is made of durable materials that match the color and look or your original teeth. Because of the permanent nature and durability of implants, you can expect to have a perfect smile for as long as twenty years or even longer as long as the implants are not damaged in some way.

Deciding on Dental Implants

Your implant dentist can help you decide if dental implants are a good choice for you. In most cases, if you have a missing tooth, you are a good candidate for an implant. However, some conditions can make it harder for you to heal after an implant procedure. If you have any of the following issues or conditions, you might not be a good candidate for implants:

• Diabetes
• Immune system disorder
• Osteoporosis
• Gum disease
• Insufficient bone mass in the jaw

If you are a smoker, your healing ability is also compromised, so this could also affect your ability to heal after an implant procedure. The healing process is very important to an implant because it is during this period that the implant bonds to the jawbone.

For more information on dental implant therapy, call our office at our office today.