When you drink coffee every day and red wine more than you should your teeth do not always look their best. Fortunately, there are a growing number of people who are seeking professional teeth whitening services to make sure that they are looking their very best. From food stains that serve as a problems that return again and again to one time solutions for missing teeth, cosmetic dentistry services play an important role in the lives of many people. And while few of these procedures are cheap, there are many times when people feel as if they are worth the investment of both time and money.
Beyond the cosmetics, of course, there is the functional role that the best dentistry plays. For instance, in an effort to literally bridge the gap of his missing teeth, your 87 year old man was given a retainer type device that has some custom made teeth for the back of the right side of his mouth. He obviously, however, did not listen to the dentist because he called his adult daughter this morning and asked if he was supposed to take it out at night. When the daughter questioned her father about what the dentist instructed, the dad said he forgot to ask. Evidently taking it out has not been so bad, but it sounds like the process of getting it back in place in the morning is a real challenge.
Dental Health Can Help Determine How You Look and How You Feel About Yourself
In a time when there is so much emphasis on appearances, it should come as no surprise that there are more and more people considering teeth whitening and other cosmetic dental procedures. From adults wearing braces to the number of health insurance plans that will partially pay for dental implants, there are many ways that dentists can not only improve the look a patient, but also limit pain and provide better chewing functions. Whether you are a college student coming home on break for wisdom teeth removal or you are a new mom considering teeth whitening, there are many options that are available.
Consider some of these facts and figures about the many ways these services can keep patients LOOKING GREAT:
- Learning to go to the dentist on a regular basis is a task that many people cannot seem to achieve. In fact, as many as 12% of adults between the ages of 20 and 64 have not seen a dentist in the past five years.
- Over 27% of adults in the U.S. have untreated tooth decay. In many cases, this a condition that can keep people from sharing their smile and, in some cases, leads to them hiding their mouths.
- One of the most common reasons to go to the dentist or oral surgeon in your late teens or early 20s is for wisdom teeth removal. Typically this is an outpatient oral surgery that is performed on 5 million Americans every year.
- Kids require regular dental care appointments.
- Image is everything!
- Nearly 35 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with temporomandibular joint and muscle disorder (TMJ) disorder, a condition that can lead to many other kinds of problems if it is not remedied.
- Going to a dentist for TMJ does not always mean surgery, but it is important to remember that jaw surgery is appropriate after an adolescent stops growing. This is usually around ages 14 to 16 years for females and ages 17 to 21 years for males.
- Going by recent statistics, the prevalence of TMJD is somewhere between 5% and 12% of the population, and is more prevalent among younger individuals.
- Rresearch from the American Public Health Association indicates that an estimated 10 million wisdom teeth are extracted from 5 million people in the U.S. annually.
- Estimates show that 13% of adults 65 years or older maintain unimpacted wisdom teeth without cavities or periodontal disease.
- An estimated 3 million people have dental implants, and that number is growing by 500,000 every year.
- The reported success rate of dental implants is 98%.
Whether you are making an appointment for your twice a year teeth whitening or you need to see a dentist because of tooth pain, there are many ways that the dental industry can help you look your very best. No matter what age you are.
