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Archives for October 2024

Am I Too Old For Invisalign?

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I am sixty years old. My smile has always embarrassed me. This week, my daughter-in-law said that I could straighten my teeth. When I mentioned I would feel foolish wearing braces at my age, she told me that there is a new type of braces that people can’t even see. Is that true? Am I too old for those?

Sandra

Dear Sandra,

Invisalign aligner

I am so glad your daughter-in-law had your back! There are lots of options for straightening your teeth that do not involve traditional braces with all the metal wires and brackets. One of the first companies to offer this is Invisalign. Since then, several other companies have opened with offerings as well. Most of them work on the same principle.

Invisalign uses clear aligners to straighten your teeth instead of the metal of traditional braces. The treatment is designed by a complex computer software program. These will work in about half the time of traditional braces and no one will even know that you are straightening your teeth. The aligners are invisible even at a conversational distance.

Age and Invisalign

You are definitely not too old for Invisalign. In fact, there is a study club where some dentists get together to discuss their Invisalign cases. There were several dentists in that group who had Invisalign patients in their 80s. That’s not saying that 80 is the top range. It is just the age that their patients were.

There is a hidden benefit to this form of orthodontics as well that benefits mature patients. As we age, our teeth pick up stains making us look much older. The aligners used to straighten your teeth can also double as teeth whitening trays. All you need is the whitening gel from your dentist and you can both straighten and whiten your teeth at about a fraction of the cost. Your smile will look decades younger.

This blog is brought to you by Duluth, GA Dentist Dr. David Marion.

Preventing Dental Implant Failure

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I had a couple of friends who had dental implants done. One of them was successful and the other was a failure. The one who had the good case had a CT scan. The other didn’t. Is a CT scan the trick to a successful procedure? The other question I have is the type of implant. A dentist I am looking at uses Southern Venturi. Neither of my friend’s dentists used that. Is this a good implant?

Carlton

Dear Carlton,

An assortment of titanium and zirconia dental implants.

I do love it when patients do some research. Like you, they usually have good questions when they come to their consultation appointment. Let’s start with the CT scan. I would consider this a non-negotiable. It isn’t a guarantee of a successful procedure, but greatly improves the chances. The reason for this is the nature of dental implants. It is a 3-Dimensional procedure. Because of that it requires 3-Dimensional scans. Doing this ensures that your dentist knows if you have sufficient bone support. It is also a way to make sure that your dentist will not accidentally bump into a nerve or perforate your sinus cavity during to procedure.

As for the type of dental implant fixture, I am not familiar with Southern Venturi. It is important that these are manufactured to exact standards. There are some fixtures that the best implant dentists tend to favor. These are:

  • Straumann
  • Nobel Biocare
  • 3i
  • BioHorizons
  • Zimmer
  • Astrotech

I’d like to also add that the most important part of the dental implant procedure is choosing the right dentist. This is an advanced procedure. It is also the leading cause of dental malpractice suits. Dental school training alone will not be enough. You will want to make sure you go to a dentist who invested in post-doctoral training in dental implants. You also want a dentist with a high success rate. I would expect it to be a minimum of 95%. You won’t find one that will be 100% because even if a dentist does everything right, there can still be some case failures. Sometimes, the human body just rejects a treatment.

This blog is brought to you by Duluth, GA Dentist Dr. David Marion.
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