Smile with Confidence: A Comprehensive Guide to Dental Health and Care

Cosmetic dentistry

Common Dental Questions, dental care questions and answers, dental health tips, cosmetic dentistry, restorative dentistry, dental technology, top dentists

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Complete Health Dentistry: Oral Health Impacts Overall Health

Originally posted on: https://readytosmile.com/complete-health-dentistry-oral-health-impacts-overall-health/ Preventable chronic diseases cause seventy-five percent of medical costs. It has become a monumental discovery in…

dentures, smile makeover, teeth whitening

What Are Dentures?

Dentures are replacements for missing teeth that can be taken out and put back into your mouth. There are many reasons why people lose their teeth, the most prevalent being dental disease that results in tooth decay. Tooth loss can happen at any age, but it doesn’t have to mean living without an attractive smile.

Signs You May Need Dentures

• You don’t visit the dentist every six months.
• Gums are red, swollen, tender, or bleeding.
• Teeth are loose shifting, or the gaps between your teeth are wider.
• Toothache
• Missing a couple teeth
• Having trouble eating hard or chewy foods
• Indigestion
• Self-conscious about smiling

Alternatives to Braces

Braces can be the bane of one’s existence – not only for the teens who wear them, but the parents as well.  For kids, braces come during those awkward teenage years – a time fraught with angst over acne or other physical changes, and slapping on something that makes the teeth look the grille of a 1955 Rambler, sure doesn’t help matters much.  For parents, it is a pain as well … if their workplace sponsors a dental plan, orthodontia regimens may be included, partially or in total, but, if not – the price of braces can take a big bite out of the household budget, not to mention taking time off from work to transport kids to the orthodontist for regular appointments.

Be Proactive

You are probably not the first parent to wonder about alternatives to moving teeth into proper alignment.

How Do Teeth Age?

Teeth are not quite as unique as snowflakes, however, they do vary in size, shape and location in the jaw.  These differences in the teeth are what give our face shape and form and how we chew, speak or smile.  Did you know that we are born with 20 baby teeth (a/k/a “primary teeth”) that will begin to “erupt” or break through at about 6 months, and, by age 12, all 32 of our permanent teeth have usually erupted?

A Child’s Smile

There are many gap-toothed photos of you in your parents’ family albums.  Face it, all of a sudden your “cuteness quotient” goes down substantially when you begin losing those baby teeth.  The first teeth to go are the lower center teeth (a/k/a the lower center incisors) at approximately 6 to 7 years old.  Next are the top center pair.   It’s scary looking when you resemble a Halloween pumpkin, but, at least the Tooth Fairy helps make this time bearable.  Happily, a baby tooth typically doesn’t loosen until the permanent tooth below pushes it up to take its place.

When Do Teeth Start to Age?