Do You Need New Teeth?
Imagine you are a woman who is on the cusp of turning forty years old. Suddenly, all the people around you are losing their teeth and the conversation you had with your friends turns to how to maintain and keep your teeth looking gorgeous. You’re overwhelmed because it feels like just a few years ago you experienced having your identification checked at the door of a bar, pub or club. Now all of a sudden, your friends are losing their teeth and they require dentures, bridges, crowns and the like? What happened, and why do you suddenly feel so old?
Well, before you start to admonish yourself for feeling like an elderly bat, remember that you are a woman, and women can lose teeth for a variety of reasons. One thing you will discover as your friends around you have babies at older ages is that women can lose their teeth through the experience of breastfeeding. If women do not have access to pre-natal medicines and vitamins, their breast milk may not be robust enough for the baby to receive all the required nutrients, and their bodies will automatically redirect those nutrients (especially calcium) from their teeth and bones to their breast milk so the baby gets the best possible milk.
If you feel like you are too young to suddenly have to contend with dentures and bridges, remember that anyone at any age can lose their teeth. It may be more common for people as they get older, but it is actually rather common for women to lose hair, teeth and nails during breast feeding and thus, by the time you are of child-rearing age, you likely already know someone who has a mouth full of false teeth without even realizing it. Additionally, drug and alcohol abuse in America is at a very high rate, as with the rest of the world. People who abuse certain substances are far more likely to lose their teeth and need dentures as a result.
Why Do I Need Dentures?
For example, the proliferation of the methamphetamine epidemic in America has led to many people losing their teeth. Before you ask yourself why health insurance does not cover these problems, you must know that in America, healthcare is parsed out to minutiae, and therefore dental insurance is considered separate. Your teeth are also bones that are in your head, and oral health is directly linked to cardiovascular health. Considering that cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of Americans due to poor diet and exercise, you would think that dental insurance would be included in health insurance. That is not the case, however, because in America, making money is more important than the health of Americans.
Consequently, Americans must save their money and consider their oral health separately through accessing dentists and other specialists. This may sound incredibly daunting and it is, especially if you lose your teeth at a younger age and you do not have many people around you having similar experiences to commiserate with. How are you supposed to make the decision without the support of a community around you that is having similar issues with their oral health? Who do you talk to when you are too young to know many people who have lost their teeth, who are still too embarrassed to be open and honest about the experiences they are having?
It is important to think carefully about whether you need dentures or bridges, you can check https://www.nuviasmiles.com/blog/dentures-vs-bridges to help you on what you need to repair your teeth so you have a comfortable time using your mouth. Technically, a denture is a prosthesis designed to mimic teeth so that missing teeth can be surmounted and one can enjoy eating and speaking and communicating as usual. The earliest known dental prosthesis dates back to the seventh century in the area of Italy that is now known as Tuscany! That means carbon dating by historians and archeologists has proven that human beings have sought remedies to losing teeth for as long as there has been sufficient technology to create them!
Maybe Bridges Instead?
A bridge is a little different from a denture because it is, in essence, a singular implant that is affixed to another implant or a live tooth that is adjacent to it. You are a lot more likely to know someone who has a few bridges in their mouths than someone who has a full set of dentures. This is likely because bridges are far more affordable than dentures in many instances, depending on how many teeth have been lost and how many are still viable to be used and reconstructed. There are fixed bridges that will be in your mouth forever and there are flexible and movable bridges that can be adjusted and relocated and redone more easily.
Additionally, someone who has “grills” in their mouth, or gold and diamond teeth, may be in need of bridges or dentures before others in their age group. This is because sometimes the mouth piece required to make a really nice grill can ultimately corrode and erode your existing teeth. Very often the same woman who has lost her teeth due to breastfeeding has also known of someone who lost teeth due to oral jewelry eroding their teeth as well. Click here to learn more about the possibility of oral jewelry damaging your teeth. Many of those people are in the same age group and thus are relying on each other for advice on which one to choose.
Many people who have invested in veneers and other forms of dental replacement claim they are doing so to get ahead of the need for dentures and bridges later on in life. In this way, they are simply upgrading the existing teeth they have for implants that will likely age better than organic teeth and thus they circumvent the need for dentures or bridges earlier in life than they might like. Additionally, many people turn to dentures after they have had cracks in the veneering of their bridges. As a result, dentures are not always the purview of very old people — they are often known and used by people who have no choice but to use them at any age old enough to chew!
