by Dr. Peter J. Pagano,
author of the upcoming book: Ageless Smile: What You Need to Know About Midlife Dentistry
With retirement age coming later for many of us than our parent’s generation and more people on the dating scene at midlife and older, a great smile is no longer just for the Hollywood types. It’s a great asset.
Half of my patients today are over the age of forty. For the most part, these folks take excellent care to maintain a healthy, attractive smile. Increasingly, I am restoring gum health, rebuilding teeth and fixing crooked, chipped and missing teeth. Whereas even ten years ago patients of the same age would be content to neglect their dental health and get dentures, this mindset is no longer as common. I challenge you to name any other single enhancement that improves appearance and health as drastically as restoring teeth and gums and updating your smile.
Despite the technological advances in cosmetic dentistry, its primary role hasn’t changed. Dentistry must maintain proper chewing function. Dentistry is a lot like engineering, just on a smaller scale. The delicate balance of the jaw joints and how the teeth come together is vital to proper chewing function. Cosmetic dental treatment must maintain the integrity of this delicate balance or restore it if it is out of balance. An imbalance in the jaw joints can cause head, neck or back pain that is not alleviated with other medical treatment. Often I detect this in my exam before a patient has even expressed that they have pain. This usually elicits a “how did you know that?” shocked reaction. I’ve spent over thirty years alleviating head, neck and back pain caused by jaw joints out of position and I’m very familiar with how dental health can cause this pain. Many people don’t bother to mention head, neck, facial or jaw pain to their dentist. And, since many dentists don’t treat this condition, you would have to be aware that it could be caused by a dental condition and whether your dentist is familiar with treating it.
My orthopedic approach to dentistry was learned over the years from studying some forward thinking dentists and interacting with chiropractors and physical therapists. For several years I traveled the country and overseas lecturing with a physical therapist on the whole-body connection between dental treatment and the remainder of the body. As cosmetic dental procedures have become more popular, I believe we need to increase our understanding of the delicate balance of our head, neck and jaw. Imbalances can occur from simple wearing down of the teeth, which happens with age. This can cause the teeth to come together differently when chewing and eventually throw the jaw joints out of balance. The delicate engineering of the body compensates for this by putting stress in other areas. If you’ve experienced back and neck pain that has led to inactivity, you may need to restore the balance in your head, neck and jaw. This should be done prior to or as part of any cosmetic dental treatment. To neglect such an existing condition and get cosmetic procedures could worsen the condition.
