Can I Avoid Facial Collapse?
Posted by writeradmin
My dentist is suggesting that I remove all of my teeth and replace them with dentures. I was diagnosed with a calcium deficiency and my dentist thinks there is no point in trying to keep my teeth. I was devastated to hear that and went home quite discouraged. I called my sister to tell her what was going on and she thinks dentures at my age (I’m 32) would be a disaster because they cause facial collapse. She suggested dental implants, but my dentist said that won’t work with my bone problems. Is there any way to avoid facial collapse if I can’t get dental implants? I’m trying not to fall apart here.
Toni
Dear Toni,
I am so glad you wrote. I am going to say up front that you are not with the best dentist. I’d like you to find another one and get a second opinion. Please don’t extract any teeth until you’ve been seen by someone else. Don’t let them know what your dentist said or even who he is. Just let them look at your teeth and then see what they say.
For those who may not be aware of what facial collapse is, I’ll give a quick explanation. Whenever your teeth are removed, whether it is one tooth or all of them, your body recognizes that. Because there is no longer a tooth root in those spots, your body will begin to resorb the minerals in your jawbone in order to use them elsewhere in your body. It is a remarkable design of the human body that works to be efficient with all of its resources.
The problem that arises from that, however, is that as those minerals are used elsewhere, the jawbone begins to shrink. Lower dentures are kept in simply by resting on your lower jawbone. As that bone shrinks there is no way to keep those dentures in. You will also look decades older than you are. That is facial collapse.
Here are just some of the ways that I think your current dentist is blowing it. First, having a calcium deficiency as an adult will have no effect on the health of your teeth now. Your teeth are fully formed. Now, if you had a calcium deficiency while they were developing, that would be a completely different story. That isn’t what you described.
Second, why just give up on the teeth of a 32 year old woman? Seriously. Does he not like working on teeth? There are dentists like that. They’d rather pull teeth than treat them. Maybe they should look into a different career choice. A good dentist will work to save as much natural tooth structure as possible.
Third, did he run any diagnostics before telling you that your bone wasn’t good enough for dental implants? It didn’t sound like that to me. While you do need a good amount of bone to start, placing dental implants in the bone helps to preserve that bone.
Get that second opinion. I have a feeling that your teeth are not going to be a problem.
This blog is brought to you by Birmingham, AL Dentist Dr. Thomas Dudney.
