It is a common misconception that people are in need of dentures because they took poor care of their teeth. Well, that is often not the case as dentures are used to remedy many different oral health care issues. While many signs that may indicate you need dentures will revolve around pain, others can have nothing to do with pain. If you are experiencing any of these 5 signs, you might need dentures:
Reality of Needing Dentures
At some point in your life, you may need to get dentures. It may be sooner than you’d like, but dentures may be necessary if you are experiencing:
1. Not seeing your dentist every six months. The minimum 2 visits every year is essential for proper oral hygiene. With every dentist visit, they can patch up small problems that, if left untreated, can become bigger problems which can require dentures in the future.
2. Feeling loose or shifting teeth or the spaces between your teeth is getting wider. This is a sign of bone loss. Things may appear to be all well on the surface, but underneath, where you can’t see, problems are occurring which can lead to dentures.
3. Feeling severe pain. This can be a sign of tooth decay which has already advanced to attacking the nerves in your tooth. If caught early, it can be fixed with a filling, but if it is left untreated and a lot of decay happens, you may be required to have the tooth completely removed and replaced with a partial denture.
4. Already missing teeth. Having missing teeth puts a lot of pressure on the remaining teeth. Once some teeth begin to miss, the rest follow until you have none left. To keep the teeth you have left, it is vital to take care of the damaged ones. To avoid losing more teeth, make an appointment right away with your dentist.
5. Problems eating hard or chewy food. If only one tooth is hurting, you can have that tooth individually treated, but more likely than not, there are some problems happening beneath the surface that you want to have looked at right away instead of waiting to see if it just goes away on it’s own. It won’t.
Dentures or No?
Are you experiencing any of these signs? If you are experiencing even one, make an appointment with your dentist sooner rather than later. The longer you wait, the worse it will become and dentures will no longer be a probability, it will be a reality. If you meet all 5 signs that you might need dentures, contact Advanced Prosthodontics today at (610) 865-4222.