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Avoiding Facial Collapse

I’ve been crying for two weeks. My doctor recently diagnosed me with a severe calcium deficiency. My dentist suggested that I should extract my teeth now to save myself from the constant dental appointments. I’m only 37. I can’t stand the idea of not having teeth. Plus, a friend of mine said that I will have something called facial collapse by the time I’m 50. Is there any way to prevent this from happening? Or even save my teeth?

Evelyn

Dear Evelyn,

First, I want you to take a deep breath. I don’t think you are going to need to remove your teeth. If you have a calcium deficiency with an onset in adulthood it will not impact your teeth. The only way that would happen is if you developed the deficiency while your teeth were still developing.

There are many different types of dentists. Some will do anything to save tooth structure. Others would rather just get rid of the tooth. It sounds like your dentist is one who prefers pulling teeth to saving them. I don’t think this is the best dentist for you, especially at your age. I definitely wouldn’t pull all your teeth and get dentures.

Your friend was correct about facial collapse. This is a condition that happens after long term use of removable dentures. Your body senses when your teeth are removed and begins to resorb the minerals in your jawbone where they will be more useful. As a result, your jawbone slowly shrinks. Eventually, there is not enough jawbone left for you to even keep your dentures in, which rest upon your lower jaw.

If you ever got to the point where you did have to have your teeth removed, the way to prevent facial collapse is to have dental implants placed and then anchor the dentures to them. I don’t think you’re in this position and highly suggest you get a second opinion.

This blog is brought to you by Douglas, AZ Dentist Dr. Gilberto Tostado.

Dental Implants After 10 Years

I wanted to get dental implants from the very beginning but did not have the money. I decided to just get the regular dentures and save up. Unfortunately, I had several setbacks including a car wreck that left me hospitalized and without income for a couple of months. I’ve finally got enough money to get the dental implants, but it has taken me a little over ten years! Am I too late? I hope not because I REALLY hate these dentures.

Maggie

Dear Maggie,

I am so terribly sorry about the accident you were in as well as all the hardship that has resulted from the accident. It says a lot about your perseverance and character that you were still able to save up for dental implants after that. Honestly, I’m impressed.

Here is some good news for you. You are not too late. Technically, you can get dental implants at any point after getting dentures with two caveats. First, you must be in good general health to be a candidate. Second, depending on how long you have been in completely removable dentures, you will need to have bone grafting done in order to have a successful outcome.

When your teeth were removed, your body began resorbing the minerals in your jawbone in an effort to be as efficient as possible with your its resources. Unfortunately, this has the side effect of shrinking your jawbone. That jawbone in needed in order to retain the dental implants. In dental circles, we call this facial collapse.

In your place, I recommend seeing an experienced implant dentist, one who has post-doctoral training in the procedure. Have him or her do some great diagnostics, including a CT scan to see where you are bone-wise. That will determine how much bone grafting you need. Once that is done and you’ve had some time to heal, you will have the go-ahead for dental implants.

The great thing is, now that you’ve been living with dentures for the last ten years, your quality of life is going to go up dramatically after your dental implant procedure is completed. You’ll feel like a new woman!

This blog is brought to you by Douglas, AZ Dentist Dr. Gilberto Tostado.

Getting Dental Implants After 30 Years in Dentures

I have been in dentures for over 30 years. My “teeth” have never been attractive. I just inherited a large sum of money and would be able to get dental implants, which I think would give me a beautiful smile. Is it too late for me to get that?

Avery

Dear Avery,

While technically it is never too late to get dental implants, the length of time you have been in dentures means that you have probably lost a significant amount of the bone structure in your lower jaw. Maybe you have noticed that it has become a little more challenging to keep your dentures in place. Because that bone is important to keep your dental implants anchored, you will need a procedure done to build that bone back up. This is called bone grafting. Once that is done you should be good to go with the dental implants.

When you are missing all your teeth, it is too cost-prohibitive for you to get a dental implant for each missing tooth. Instead, you will get implant overdentures. This will take four to eight dental implants and then anchor your dentures to them. These will be completely secure.

As for the beauty of the smile. That can happen with dentures, implant supported dentures, or straight dental implants. What determines whether or not the smile will be beautiful is dependent on the cosmetic skills of the dentist. I would certainly make sure they have done some post-doctoral training in cosmetic work. In addition, I would ask to see some before and after pictures of actual cases they have done. That should give you a pretty good idea what kind of result you will get with that dentist.

In addition to their cosmetic training, it is extremely important that you look into their post-doctoral training in dental implants. This is extremely important. Dental implants are an advanced procedure and if they do not have significant training in this there can be disastrous results. There are countless horror stories from dental implants gone wrong. I would start by looking at their implant training and then look at their cosmetic training.

This blog is brought to you by Douglas, AZ Dentist Dr. Tostado.