You go to the dentist’s office to take care of your oral health and a hospital or general practitioner for your overall health. So it is no wonder that people don’t realize how much your health in one area can affect the other. Here are a few examples:
- Diabetes can lead to gum disease and tooth loss
- Smoking can cause dental implants to fail.
- And missing teeth can shorten your life by ten years.
I might need to repeat that last one.
MISSING YOUR TEETH CAN SHORTEN YOUR LIFE BY TEN YEARS!!!
What’s the connection?
According to a study in the American Journal of Medicine, It’s the change in bite-force that comes with losing your teeth that is the main cause. When you lose your teeth you lose biting strength fairly quickly, and traditional dentures do nothing to stop this. While an average person with all their teeth would typically have a bite-strength of 200 pounds per square inch, after 5 years of missing their teeth that bite-strength drops by 75% (50 psi), and after 15 years it’s dropped by 97% (6 psi).
How does bite-force rob me of years?
With a reduced bite-force accompanied by a denture that does not make eating any easier or more enjoyable, the person can resort to “the denture diet”. Soup, pudding, and mashed vegetables are all the advanced denture wearer can manage. Their entire diet is lacking foods of substance. Even vegetables have to be boiled within an inch of their lives to make them soft enough, but this also leaches all the nutrients out. This unappealing diet along with uncomfortable dentures not only can lead to a poor diet but make the person less interested in eating in general.
I’m already missing my teeth, what can I do?
There is no substitute for the benefit of keeping your own teeth, this is why it is so important to follow the advice of your dentist and have good teeth cleaning habits. But with new technology your dentist can come pretty close to the feel of your natural teeth. Possibly using a denture you already have. An Overdenture can give you back the bite force and the enthusiasm for eating that you once lost. This is because an Overdenture is anchored directly to the jaw much like your natural teeth are. So when you are debating the importance of your teeth just ask yourself one question.
How much would you pay for an extra 10 years?
Call Dr. Truong today so we can start to save your life. (916) 696 8168
For more information on how Overdentures work click here.
To see how Overdentures changed the life of one of our patients click here.
