My dentist told me that I have gum disease and need to extract all of my teeth and get dentures. While I can see where some of the teeth are hopeless. A lot of my teeth feel strong and don’t have any pain. Do I really need to extract all of those?
Lance
Dear Lance,
Every dentist is different in their willingness to work hard to save teeth. Some dentists will work incredibly hard to save your teeth. Others will suggest extracting them as soon as a problem pops up. There are also those inbetween. It sounds like your preference is for a dentist who works hard to save your teeth. That’s my personal preference as well, and I consider those to be among the best dentists.
My suggestion is that you find a dentist who is willing to save as many teeth as can be saved. At the same time, you need to also treat your gum disease at the same time. In it’s advanced stages, your teeth will actually fall out of your mouth. Most of us have had nightmares where our teeth just fall out of our mouth. Advanced gum disease can cause that nightmare to come true.
Let’s look at the worst case scenario. You go to a dentist for a second opinion and he or she tells you that all your teeth are hopeless. I would not recommend that you just get removable dentures. I would instead work to get your gum disease under control, get some bone grafting done, in order to get dental implants that you can anchor your dentures to.
Implant supported dentures are important because it not only keeps your dentures secure, but it will also signal to your brain that you still have teeth in your jaw that need to be secured. Without that, your body will begin to resorb the minerals in your jawbone in order to use them throughout your body. This will cause your jaw to shrink. Eventually you won’t even be able to keep them in your mouth.
Start by getting that second opinion. Based on what you said, I suspect you’ll be able to save some teeth.
This blog is brought to you by Duluth, GA Dentist Dr. David Marion.