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Is There a Way to Prevent Facial Collapse?

Posted by Annmarie SanSevero

I’ve been told that I have a severe calcium deficiency and it is going to lead to me losing all of my teeth. My dentist is suggesting I can go ahead and remove all of them at once and get it over with or just keep coming back and removing them as I lose them. He’s suggesting I do it all at once and get dentures to replace them. I’m only 37 years old and I’ve been in tears about this. I don’t know how this happened and want to keep my teeth. I looked it up and it looks like if I get dentures than I’ll have something called facial collapse and will look like a grandmother before my kids are even out of junior high. Is there any way to prevent this?

Tabitha


Dear Tabitha,

Illustration of an implant supported denture

I am very glad you wrote. Please do not extract your teeth. There is something that doesn’t sit right with me. If I understand your question correctly, you were only recently diagnosed with a severe calcium deficiency. If that is the case, then it will have no impact on your teeth. The only way the health of your teeth would have been impacted by this is if you would have had a calcium problem during the development of your teeth. Yours are already fully formed. I don’t understand why your dentist is saying this is going to be an issue.

Adult onset calcium deficiency can lead to things like nerve problems and osteoporosis, so I would make sure you’re getting treatment, but it is not the cause of tooth decay.

It’s possible you have teeth that are harder to keep healthy because of genetic reasons or from frequent snacking, which I’ll go over in a moment, but that doesn’t mean you should extract them. Instead, I would look for a dentist who is bound and determined to save as many teeth as possible. Some dentists are just more interested in saving teeth than others. Find one who is.

Preventing Facial Collapse

Let’s say that for some crazy reason you do end up losing all of your teeth. That doesn’t mean you are stuck with removable dentures. There is an implant supported denture procedure that can not only prevent facial collapse, but it will also keep your dentures completely secure. No slipping or sliding, and you can eat whatever you want.

With this procedure, you have between four to eight dental implants placed and then, after the bone has had time to integrate with the implants, a denture will be anchored to them.

Snacking and Tooth Decay

Most people don’t realize that our saliva is a major ally in our fight against decay. It has special minerals that fight the bad bacteria in our mouths. However, if you snack frequently or drink a lot of beverages (other than water) during the day, it limits your saliva’s ability to fight decay. If someone is doing everything right with their oral hygiene and still having a lot of problems with their teeth, the first thing to look at is their snacking. If you can limit that, you should see a huge improvement.

This blog is brought to you by Franklin, TN Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Christopher Weber.

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