Are you suffering from gum disease? Are you wondering whether it’s best to go through gum disease treatment, or if you should just let your teeth go and have them replaced with dental implants or bridges?
Research suggests that the cost effective option is getting gum disease treatment to save your teeth.
Lifetime Periodontal Care vs. Tooth Replacement Costs
Researchers in Norway found that the lifetime cost of periodontal care is less than the cost of replacing teeth. Comparing the cost of gum disease treatment for a lifetime, they found that the lifetime cost to treat all your teeth was about the equivalent of replacing two teeth with dental implants or three with dental bridges.
This is certainly a great bargain, offering you the chance to save 28-32 teeth for the cost of replacing two or three.
Will Gum Disease Treatment Save Your Teeth?
But many people worry that they might not actually save their teeth even if the get recommended gum disease treatment. The truth of the matter is that gum disease treatment is very good at saving your teeth. According to other research, people undergoing treatment for advanced gum disease usually don’t lose a single tooth. And usually dentists can tell you which teeth are at the worst risk before you even start treatment. But even among these high risk teeth, most will survive–60% of teeth rated as “hopeless” are in place 15 years later.
Best of all, you’re in control of your risk. If you follow instructions carefully, you reduce your risks, because those don’t follow a dentist’s instructions are 5.6 times more likely to lose a tooth than those that do.
Of course, it’s best if you never get to the point where you need this level of care to preserve your teeth. It’s much, much cheaper to just make your regular cleanings and checkups and never have to worry about gum disease or tooth loss.
If you are overdue for your dental appointment, please call (610) 272-0828 today for an appointment with Philadelphia dentist Dr. Ken Siegel at Dental Excellence of Blue Bell.
