We know that it often seems there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. Some tasks keep getting postponed, and, unfortunately, dental work is often one of them.
However, if you have chipped, cracked, or missing teeth, you should move reconstructive dentistry up on your “to do” list.
Here are five reasons why it’s better to get reconstructive dentistry sooner rather than later.
Protect Your Other Teeth
Our teeth work best when they work together. They divide the work evenly among them. This helps protect them from excessive force that can lead to chipping and cracking. If you have one or more teeth that are chipped or cracked in ways that keep them from bearing chewing force, the other teeth have to bear that weight instead. This makes them more likely to chip, crack, and wear down, too.
The problem is even worse if you have missing teeth. Without other teeth to brace them sideways, teeth can drift and tilt. A tilted tooth takes force in a direction where it’s weaker, and that makes them more likely to break.
Putting off reconstructive dentistry makes it more likely that you will have more chipped or cracked teeth. You may even lose teeth as a result.
Avoid TMJ
Your teeth are a team, but they’re only one part of the larger team that controls biting, chewing, swallowing, and other jaw functions. Disharmony in the tooth system caused by chipped, cracked, or missing teeth can cause disruptions in the larger system of muscles, nerves, joints, and bones that make up the jaw system. This disruption can cause a condition called temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJ or TMD for short).
TMJ is a jaw dysfunction, but its effects can extend beyond the jaw. People experience a wide range of TMJ symptoms, including jaw pain, headaches, and neck pain. Ear-related symptoms are common, including earaches, a feeling of fullness in the ears, vertigo, or ringing in the ears (tinnitus). An imbalanced jaw can cause damage to the jaw joint. Often this is accompanied by jaw sounds like popping and clicking. These can worsen to a grinding sound in the joint and can make your jaw seize up.
Protect Your Overall Health
Having a healthy mouth is important to maintaining good overall health. Waiting too long to do something about missing or damaged teeth can lead to serious health consequences.
Missing teeth and drifting teeth can make it hard for you to clean food residue and bacteria from your teeth and gums. This increases your risk of gum disease. Gum disease not only leads to more tooth loss, it’s a bacterial infection that puts your health at risk. Having gum disease elevates your risk of heart disease, stroke, autoimmune disorders, dementia, and some forms of cancer.
Broken teeth are also prone to infection. An infected tooth, also called an abscessed tooth, can lead to sudden deadly infections in the blood, sinuses, or brain. Even when the infection doesn’t become an acute danger, bacteria from an infected tooth travels to the heart, increasing your risk of heart disease as well.
If you are postponing reconstructive dentistry, you might not detect the symptoms of infected teeth and gums. These cases become more serious over time and require more invasive treatment the longer they’re put off.
Not repairing damaged teeth or replacing missing teeth can cause you to chew ineffectively. Poorly chewed food can make you more likely to choke, cause digestive problems, or reduce the nutritional value of foods.
Save Money
Damaged teeth are usually a progressive condition. Left untreated, they tend to worsen, requiring more serious treatment in the future. These treatments are much more expensive than the cost to get reconstructive dentistry early.
In addition, untreated dental conditions can cost you more in treatment of related conditions. For example, just treating gum disease can save a person with diabetes $6000 over their lifetime. People with conditions like heart disease or stroke might pay thousands more each year they have untreated gum disease.
Getting reconstructive dentistry now heads off complications and helps you stay healthier, reducing your overall medical costs.
Enjoy a Higher Quality of Life
If you are healthier and have fewer medical expenses, it’s a lot easier to live happily. Not only that, but reconstructive dentistry has its own quality of life benefits, too. You’ll have a beautiful smile again, one you’ll feel confident sharing every day. Think of how much better your life will feel if you aren’t always stifling a smile or laugh because of unattractive, damaged teeth.
Imagine enjoying all the foods you used to love before sensitive teeth made you give them up.
The better life you’ll enjoy as a result of getting reconstructive dentistry is truly priceless. Don’t keep suffering with broken teeth. Reconstructive dentistry is a solution that can help you get more joy out of life now.
You Don’t Have to Put Off Reconstructive Dentistry in Wichita Falls
You might have many reasons to postpone dental care, but hopefully we’ve convinced you that it’s better to get reconstructive dentistry now. If you decide to pursue it now, we can help remove barriers that remain. We can design a reconstructive dentistry plan that fits into your schedule. We can time the services to fit into your budget. Speaking of budget, low-cost financing is available. The cost of financing is typically much less than the cost of postponing dental care.
If dental anxiety is keeping you away, we also offer sedation dentistry, which can help you feel comfortable and relaxed when getting dental care.
To start your reconstructive dentistry journey, please call 940-322-2252 or email us today to schedule an appointment with a Wichita Falls reconstructive dentist at StarImage Dentistry.
