Middle-aged dental problem solving

 

If you are between 40-60 years old, have some broken teeth, have some that are missing or lost due to time, this piece will give you insights on how we decide what to do in your case.

Broken teeth only?

People usually become busy with life and its toll, and with getting married and having kids. I remember once, as a 16 years old, I witnessed my dad breaking one of his teeth trying to pry open a knot on a plastic bag with his teeth. Its a fact of life that at some point, your teeth shall give in. Like most organs do, and people turn older, and become less active, so does the body and the teeth are no exception. Thus the majority of cases that do show up, tend to have any of these problems. 

To save, or not to save?

During dental examination, middle-aged dental patients because lets face it, often more than not, patients want the quick way out. Most ladies and gentlemen we see at our clinic come with a myriad of problems ranging from gums that are receded, bad breath, broken teeth, minor alignment issues, reaching record highs of having one tooth inside that they just want it pulled out to have a pair of dentures made. 

The dilemma in chosing the correct treatment lies in two things:

• Is the tooth restorable?

• Is the teeth good enough in quality for subsequent prosthetics?

And that is just to name two of the decision making questions we have to answer and involve our patient in. 

The knowledge?

Often times when we get cases like these, we like to gently get the feel for their knowledge. Surprisingly, more often than not, these guys and girls in bad shaped teeth surprise us with profound knowledge of the issues they have. Being in the loop with your doctor is the best strategy to stay healthy with teeth and avoid the need for fastidious and costly types of treatment. 

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