Wearing Dentures Can Reduce Life Expectancy By 10 Years
Malnutrition is a major problem faced by elderly people whose bite force is reduced by 75% in the first 5 years of wearing dentures and a shocking 97% after 15 years.
Online, December 7, 2012 (Newswire.com) - You've always known removable dentures to be somewhat of a pain to live with; the grumblings of your grandfather made you well aware of that. But did you know that these archaic tooth replacement devices can actually shorten your life by a shocking 10 years? That's a significant amount of time and a significant percentage of the average human's lifespan! How is this possible?
Dr. Wayne Brueggen of the Brueggen Dental Implant Center in Houston, Texas explains: "One of the major problems faced by elderly denture-wearers is malnutrition, which is in turn caused by replacement teeth that are uncomfortable and even painful to eat with. More than half of patients who wear removable dentures say it's actually easier and more comfortable to eat without them."
But this takes a considerable toll on the diet of elderly denture-wearers. Without teeth, there is a severely limited variety of foods they can manage and certainly not the variety they need in order to get all of their essential daily requirements. Issues of nutritional intake are further compounded by the deleterious effect dentures have on jaw bone health.
Dentures and Jaw Bone Health
Without tooth roots to keep the underlying jaw bone stimulated and vital, atrophy of this hard tissue sets in. "The wasting away of the jaw bone over time really compromises the force with which a patient is able to bite down, amongst many other problems" explains Dr. Wayne Brueggen.
To give you some idea of exactly what this compromise is, consider the following: A person with healthy teeth can bite down with a force of 200 pounds per square inch. After a period of five years, denture wearers can only bite down with a force of 50 pounds. That's a 75% reduction! After 15 years, your average denture-wearer's bite force is a paltry 6 pounds... a 97% reduction. This forces patients to adjust their diet accordingly.
And the 'denture diet' is certainly no lavish affair!
The Denture Diet
Oatmeal, soup, mashed vegetables and the softest of fruits is probably all your advanced denture-wearer can manage. And unfortunately, the only way to get vegetables incredibly soft is to boil them to within an inch of their lives, leaching all of their precious nutrients from them. Over and above this limited diet, however, is a general disinclination to eat, or eat a decent amount of food. For many elderly people, eating with dentures is painful and uncomfortable because it involves bulky plastic teeth pushing and rubbing against their already tender gums. So, they can only manage a few mouthfuls before pushing their plates away from them.
Dentures are also very bulky and tend to cover the soft palate, which not only triggers the gag reflex in certain sensitive patients, but also impedes taste, temperature and texture sensation. When you consider that eating is already painful and that the denture diet is extremely limited, not being able to taste or experience your food properly must be the final nail in the coffin.
Removable Denture Technology: What Needs to Change?
"Patients who already are edentulous (toothless) or who are facing an immediate future of edentulism need to realize just how important it is to replace missing teeth with a technology such as All-on-4 dental implants," stresses Dr. Brueggen. "Dental implants offer a fixed and non-removable solution to missing teeth that doesn't cause the pain and discomfort traditionally associated with dentures. Moreover, dental implants support a healthy jaw bone, thus maintaining long term bite strength and functionality."
In short, choosing dental implants over and above inferior dental technologies like removable partial and full dentures has long term benefits that not only vastly improve a patient's quality of life, but also QUANTITY of life.
How much would you pay for an extra 10 years?
About Company:
People can better realize the cost for dental implants in million dollar smile after getting treated at Brueggen Dental Implant Center. Besides a million dollar smile, people can realize the cost for dental implants in easy and permanent replacement of falling teeth with all on four dental implants by qualified and experienced dentists at Brueggen Dental Implant Center.