How Old Is Your Dental Age?

I am often amazed at how confident patients are about their dental health. Most believe their teeth are younger than their physical age. Unfortunately, the opposite is often true. I frequently see teeth that are 10 years older than the patient’s overall health.

I see extremely healthy—or wealthy—patients with extremely poor gum and bone health. If they truly understood their condition, they would run to get it fixed.

The issue is not whether treatment options exist. The issue is that patients often don’t realize they have a problem. Gum and bone health are just as important as teeth themselves—like having a strong brass section as well as strings in an orchestra.

In medicine, blood tests and blood pressure provide clear numbers. Dentistry lacks obvious indicators. Patients often hear, “It’s kind of okay.” But what does that mean? Compared to what?

That is why gum measurements are fundamental to dentistry and taught from day one. Sadly, they are not performed often enough. Even in one of the most dentist-dense areas in the U.S., I regularly see patients who have never had their gums measured.

Dentistry rarely provides warning signs until it is too late. Bleeding, odor, and sensitivity appear late in the disease process. As Yogi Berra said, it’s “getting late early.” You have to be healthy while you’re healthy.