Is "getting old" normal? Don't let the age "carry the pot"

Many people think that "aging" is a natural law, and it seems that it is normal for people to lose their teeth when they are old. But in fact, many times the loss of teeth is not because of "old", but because of "disease". Next, let's take a look at whether "aging" is a normal phenomenon. What causes "aging"? How to prevent "aging"?

Is "getting old" normal? Many elderly people think that loose teeth and fall out are natural phenomena, and prevention is useless and useless, but in fact, it is not. Ye Jiantao, deputy director of the Department of Dentistry at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, said that when people are old, their teeth are not necessarily old, and loose teeth are only a slow physiological change process. If the teeth are well protected, they can still be stable by the time they are in their 70s.

What causes "aging"? Many times, loose tooth loss is caused by periodontitis. Due to the lack of tooth cleaning, there are a large number of plaque and tartar accumulation around the teeth, which cause redness, swelling and bleeding of the gums, and cause tooth loss in severe cases. This process is irreversible, so oral hygiene should be taken seriously from a young age and periodontal treatment should be carried out regularly.

How to prevent "aging"? The following suggestions are for reference:

1. To brush the right teeth, use a toothbrush with a smaller brush head and softer bristles, a vertical brush or a small-scale tremor brush.

2. Each tooth has five faces, namely the lip side, the tongue side, the occlusal surface and the two adjacent sides of the tooth gap, and all sides should be covered when brushing teeth.

3. Prevent osteoporosis, do not eat picky food, balanced nutrition, strengthen bone nutrition, such as milk, calcium-containing foods, etc. are the basic guarantees for bone mass storage. Kelp, dark green vegetables, beans and other calcium content is also very high. Exercise can speed up blood circulation throughout the body and bones and promote metabolism. Muscle contraction and relaxation have a direct stimulating effect on bones, so ensuring a certain amount of outdoor exercise every day is conducive to calcium absorption and can prevent and slow down the process of osteoporosis.

Many elderly people think that "old teeth" is a normal phenomenon, so they do not take measures after tooth loss, in fact, there are hidden safety hazards behind tooth loss. Missing teeth can lead to loose and fallout of healthy surrounding teeth and even atrophy of alveolar bone. Human teeth are originally close together, when the teeth are missing, it forms a toothless space, the adjacent teeth have no dependence, will slowly tilt to the gap position, just like dominoes, the previous tooth fell out, and then there will be tooth loss, and even lead to alveo bone atrophy. Missing teeth are not compensated, which will not only lead to a decrease in chewing function, but also increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract and cause digestive tract diseases. Therefore, it is very important to repair missing teeth in time.

This article was scientifically checked by Lu Bin, deputy chief physician and associate professor of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Stomatological Hospital of the Air Force Military Medical University. Experts are good at the diagnosis and treatment of common diseases in stomatology, the treatment of cleft lip and palate sequences, and the repair of bone grafts of alveolar segments.

(Editor-in-charge: Wu Xiaoqin, Wang Yanhua)