6% of adults have no natural teeth.
In modern life the number of adults with no natural teeth is reducing significantly, historically there were very few ways to treat people with dental disease and so the default option was to simply remove the teeth. After all, no teeth means no more tooth decay!
However this is now not considered the best option in many cases, although sometimes it is still necessary.
The single most important thing you can do is to maintain a good oral health care routine, this will ensure that you hang on to your natural teeth for as long as possible and avoid dentures.
74% of adults have had a tooth extracted.
As we get older the bone around our teeth begins to resorb, this is where the expression ‘long in the tooth’ comes from. As this bone resorbs the teeth can become more unstable and this is where the tooth loss comes in. This natural tendency for the bone to shrink can be exacerbated by poor oral hygiene. If the surrounding gum is inflamed because of excess plaque on the teeth then this inflammation can cause the bone to resorb as well. When you put poor oral hygiene together with age the result can be severe bone loss which then results in tooth loss.
Of course we can’t do anything about the ageing, but maintaining good oral hygiene will ensure that any bone loss is kept to an absolute minimum.
Each person has 7 fillings on average.
Having fillings is far more favourable than having teeth extracted, as was common in years gone by, however we would still prefer not to do any feelings at all and you to keep your natural tooth as far as possible. If you do have to have a filling then consider asking your dentist for a white filling. These tend to look better than conventional amalgam/silver fillings.
Guess what our advice is going to be? You guessed it, good oral hygiene is the only way to prevent cavities which result in fillings.
25% of adults do not brush teeth twice a day.
So now we get onto the reason that people lose their teeth and have fillings, brushing your teeth twice a day is the single most important thing that you can do to help keep your teeth for life. In conjunction with brushing we also recommend that you floss to clean between your teeth and then use a fluoride mouth rinse to prevent the buildup of plaque. You will notice that if you do this plaque does not buildup nearly as much around your teeth, and if we prevent this buildup we then prevent gum disease which can ultimately result in the loss of bone which leads to tooth loss.
66% of adults have visible plaque.
If you can see visible plaque on your teeth then you need to amend your oral health care routine straightaway. When you come to visit the dentist we will be able to remove this using special instruments, but it is much better if you keep the plaque at bay at home.
Plaque buildup is caused by a thin biofilm which naturally forms over your teeth, it is a thin layer of bacteria which is removed when you brush and prevented from falling by the use of mouthwash. If you do need of these then the biofilm can slowly build up and harden into plaque.
This plaque then causes irritation on your gums which can lead to gingivitis and if untreated the gingivitis can then spread to the bone underneath and turn into periodontitis. Periodontitis can lead to bone loss and ultimately to tooth loss… You starting to see a pattern here?
70% of adults use the NHS for their dental care.
Routine dentistry is provided by the NHS however some of the more complex treatments, particularly those with a cosmetic element are often not available on the NHS.
19% of adults said they had delayed dental treatment due to cost.
With the UK economy as it is at the moment people are finding it difficult to find money for many things. This is why we run our Denplan dentistry plan for patients. It includes some valuable dental insurance and also helps to spread any payment over an extended period of time.
It is so important that you keep your dental health in good condition, this way you can avoid having dental treatments at all and so the cost of maintaining your health is certainly a cost that is worth paying for.
We are always happy to discuss payment plans with any new patients so if you would like to discuss any of the issues raised in this blog post please do contact us via our website or complete the form on the right hand side of every page where you can request a dental health check at an exceptionally good price.
