Published February 15, 2011
Your mother always told you good dental care was important—and she was right.
Our teeth are among the few parts of our bodies that can't heal or replenish themselves. You're issued a full set of teeth at birth, and the only way to keep them healthy and in place is by practicing good dental care. Neglect your dental care and you could wind up shopping for dentures.
Good Dental Care Can Prevent Tooth Loss
Tooth loss is epidemic among seniors. One-fourth of U.S. adults over 65 are completely toothless, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but the problem is even more widespread than that astonishing statistic suggests. The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research reports that 58 percent of Americans 50 and older have fewer than 21 teeth, down from the usual full set of 32. Most tooth loss results from lack of good dental care rather than injury or illness.
Tooth loss is more than a cosmetic problem that makes people self-conscious about their appearance. Lost teeth can lead to poor nutrition as people avoid vegetables, nuts, fresh fruit and other healthful but hard-to-chew foods in favor of softer processed items.
Dentures No Substitute for Good Dental Care
Dentures, the traditional treatment for lost teeth, can't entirely solve the problem. Dentures often slip and rub, causing embarrassment and sore gums. Even well-made dentures have only one-sixth the chewing force of healthy teeth. Further, reduced stimulation from chewing softer foods may cause the bones in your jaw to erode, leading to other serious health problems.
Medical science has developed new tooth-loss treatments that perform better than traditional dentures, such as titanium implants that bond with healthy bone in the jaw to form an artificial root for a porcelain tooth, but those treatments are expensive and take several months. The best way to deal with tooth loss is to avoid it by practicing good dental care.
Tips for Good Dental Care and Tooth-Loss Prevention
The following dental-care tips, recommended by many leading dentists, will help you keep your teeth and gums healthy and avoid tooth loss:
Get regular exercise -- Just as exercise helps you stay healthy in other ways, regular exercise also may lower your risk of gum disease.
Brush with power -- Use a high-quality electric toothbrush with a small head. Electric brushes clean your teeth more thoroughly than regular toothbrushes and are optimized to remove plaque.
Practice deep cleaning -- Use wooden dental sticks in addition to floss for more efficient cleaning between teeth and along the gum line. If your gums recede, which often happens as people age, try using interproximal brushes. These brushes look like small pipe cleaners and may work better than floss to remove plaque from partially exposed roots.
Brush at the right time -- Wait 30 minutes to an hour after eating before you brush. It takes that long for saliva to neutralize the acids in food. Brushing right after you eat can wear away essential tooth enamel.
Drink tap water -- Many brands of bottled water do not contain fluoride, a powerful cavity-prevention chemical that is added to public drinking water. Rather than drink bottled water, consider filtering your tap water, which will remove impurities and harmful chemicals but leave the fluoride.
Stay moist -- Saliva removes microbes from your teeth and gums. If you suffer from dry mouth, ask your dentist to prescribe a special rinse than can help.
Get regular checkups -- Schedule regular appointments with your dentist for routine dental care, such as teeth cleaning and examinations to check for early signs of tooth decay and gum disease.