What do I mean by dental risk factors. Simply put, these are the things that cause damage to your teeth and cause you to lose your teeth.
There are 3 basic risk factors. You probably know 2 of them very well, but the third you may have never heard of.
- The first risk factor is cavities. Bacteria that live on the teeth eat holes in your teeth. We call these holes… cavities. The problem with a cavity is that it makes the tooth weak. A weak tooth can break. Cavities can grow into the nerve of the tooth causing extreme pain.
- The second risk factor is gum disease also called periodontal disease. Those same bacteria that can cause cavities cause gum disease. These bacteria live at the base of the teeth next to the gums. If you don’t brush and floss properly bacteria will thrive at the gum line. When this bacteria colonizes it destroys and eats away the bone. If the bone is destroyed, there is nothing to hold your tooth in your mouth. The result is your teeth will loosen and fall out just like baby teeth.
- The third risk factor is bite disease. You don’t have to have crooked teeth to have a bad bite. You can have a bad bite with either straight or crooked teeth. A bad bite may be the worst of the 3 risk factors because it causes teeth to be weak (like cavities do) and it causes your bone to be destroyed (like gum disease does).We provide a very comprehensive examination on all patients of our practice. We will thoroughly check each risk factor and help you develop your own personalized dental plan. This plan becomes your “roadmap” of how to get your mouth and teeth as healthy as you want them to be.
