Yikes! Okay, so ten years of neglect won’t turn a North Tonawanda, NY patient into a horse. In fact, it’s possible that your teeth may not even look that bad, but there is almost definitely something lurking under the surface that can cause huge health problems for you.
Dental Hygiene
Dr. Greenberg does not tell you to brush and floss twice daily to get some secret bonus trip to Disneyworld at the end of the year. Maintaining a proper dental hygiene routine can save you from a list of life-threatening conditions and thousands of dollars of painful, time-consuming dental work. If you don’t take good care of your teeth, ten years from now you may not have them!
Buildups of plaque damage the integrity of the enamel and eat away at the tooth until it is no longer functional and you have no option other than to pull it out. Plaque can also lead to gum diseases which destroy the tissue and expose the painful roots underneath. Both of these conditions are very expensive and painful to fix.
Baby Teeth
If dental neglect starts in childhood it can have devastating effects for the rest of your life. Although it may seem harmless to have cavities in “baby” teeth that kids will just lose anyway, bad dental hygiene can cause irreversible damage to other parts of the mouth as well. Also, habits start early. Why not have them practice good dental hygiene on their temporary teeth so that they have it down pat when they get the real ones?
Teeth in the Elderly
Dental neglect can still be very detrimental at an older age. Just because you’re retired doesn’t mean you want to stop eating right? Ten years without proper hygiene that occurs later in life will almost certainly lead to a loss of teeth, which can only be fixed by some type of restoration such as a bridge, implants or dentures.
Your Treatment Options
One of the hard truths in dentistry is that the more you procrastinate, the more you limit your treatment options and the more expensive your restoration will be. If you take care of your teeth starting right now, and follow the treatment options that Dr. Greenberg outlines for you, you can avoid having dentures be your only choice of solutions. While ten years of dental neglect may not turn you into a horse, do you really want to wait to find out?
Call North Tonawanda Family Dentistry today to schedule an appointment!