Dental implant marketing has a much bigger message than we usually think.
Although we need to spread the word about improved quality of life and no more embarrassment over missing teeth, we’ve got to add physical and emotional HEALTH to the radars of seniors when it comes to gaps in their mouth!
Here’s the full list of the health dangers that missing teeth represent.
- Higher risk of dementia
- Reduced life expectancy
- Social isolation and loneliness/Depression
- Poor self-rated health
- Grief over losing natural teeth
- Periodontal Disease/Oral cancer
- Other life-shortening conditions – cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis, etc.
Check out our blog posts on the first 5 points.
Fight Dementia! – With Dental Implant Marketing
Increase Life Expectancy! – With Dental Implant Marketing
Fight Deadly Senior Social Isolation! – With Dental Implant Marketing
Help Them Heal! -With Dental Implant Marketing (covers 3rd and 4th points)
Today, we’re going to dive into the 6th point on this list. How can we warn seniors in our dental implant marketing about the risks that missing teeth pose for periodontal disease and oral cancer?
We’ll also discuss the important issue of loss of bone density in the jawbone. Although this is not so much a health issue, it is a standing concern for normal appearance, speaking, and eating.
C. Everett Koop, former US surgeon general, famously said, “You can’t be healthy without good oral health.”
This is manifestly the truth and oral health is the driving theme of general dental marketing for cavities, gingivitis, etc.
And missing teeth are a problem. In fact, 178 million Americans have lost at least one tooth. According to the CDC, almost 20% of American adults over 65 have lost ALL their teeth and by the time we reach the over-75 bracket, that number climbs to 26%.
Yikes!
Could oral health messages be used more forcefully in dental implant marketing?
Could we talk more about the loss of jawbone density that people with missing teeth experience?
The answer is a resounding “YES!”
Ringing more alarm bells could help us reach more seniors experiencing tooth loss. Better dental implant marketing messages could both change more people’s lives and fill your calendar with more high-value implant patients.
What is oral cancer?
Oral cancer is cancer that develops in any part of the mouth. It is a very relevant issue for global public health since it is the sixth most common cancer worldwide.
Although oral cancer is fairly easy to treat in the early stages, the prognoses for people who are diagnosed with Stages 3 and 4 mouth cancer are significantly poorer.
Heavy smoking and alcohol usage greatly increase the chances of oral cancer.
An Alarm Bell to Ring in Our Dental Implant Marketing
Since smoking and alcohol usage are primary contributors to oral cancer, as well as to the other factors that can contribute to teeth loss such as periodontal disease, how can we know how much the increased incidence of oral cancer seen in those with missing teeth is contributed by the gaps in their mouths and how much is simply due to the effects of smoking and alcohol?
According to National Library of Medicine, five of the six case-control studies that have quantitatively examined the association between tooth loss and oral cancer have observed 2–3 fold significant increases in risk from tooth loss after controlling for smoking and alcohol use.
See following figure
Do your prospective patients know this?
Do they have any idea that their missing teeth could actually represent a cancer hazard?
We could share more messages like this in our dental implant marketing.
Periodontal Disease, Missing Teeth, and Oral Cancer
The mouth cavity represents the gateway between the outside world and the stomach and gastrointestinal tract.
Oral hygiene can thus potentially affect the whole body and lead to the development of chronic diseases anywhere throughout our system, although we’re going to be focusing only on oral diseases.
Oral chronic diseases include periodontal disease and oral cancer.
Periodontal disease, which afflicts many seniors, is both a cause and a result of tooth loss. It can lead to missing teeth, and these areas, no longer filled with the teeth that should be there, potentially allow for more bacterial invasion.
These bacteria can cause more inflammation, leading to more periodontal disease as well as well as the promotion of tumor cell growth from the chronic, low-level infection.
A quote from the conclusion of a Japanese study: “Our results suggest that the maintenance of tooth number, especially before older age, might prevent these cancers.”
Dental implants are the best option for maintaining this optimal condition of a full set of teeth for people who have lost some or all of their natural ones.
What we need seniors to recognize is that missing teeth literally represent dangerous gaps in their oral hygiene and oral health!
Jawbone Density Messages for Dental Implant Marketing
Although oral cancer is of utmost concern, another important message for seniors is the problem of bone-density loss due to missing teeth as well as the unhealthy dietary changes that usually accompany missing teeth.
As you can see, this follows a progression.
Tooth loss, which shows as a little bit of jawbone shrinkage, leads to bone loss with its accompanying sagging and loss of facial structure.
Although this takes a little time, seniors need to know this important fact: Jawbones can shrink up to 25% in the FIRST YEAR OF TOOTH LOSS!
And the longer seniors delay implant placement, the greater the chances of needing bone grafting before implants are even possible becomes.
Here are 5 jawbone density messages to include in your dental implant marketing.
- Loss of even one tooth contributes to loss of jawbone density.
- Loss of bone density leads to an uneven jawbone.
- Jawbones can shrink up to 25% in the first year of tooth loss.
- Loss of teeth usually means a less healthy diet, increasing concerns about osteoporosis
- The longer they wait, the greater the chance of needing bone grafting becomes.
Conclusion
Not only are dental implants the absolute best solution for replacing teeth in order to preserve jaw bone density and replace their dentures, they also are the best way to preserve the full set of teeth that is necessary for good oral health and, by extension, good overall health.
Dental Growth Partner for Maximum Impact
Would you like help reaching all the people with missing teeth in your community?
Would you like to use powerful health messages like this in your dental implant marketing?
Consider reaching out to Client Connection Group today.
Our powerful educational advertising will SHOW seniors just how much they need dental implants!
Join the Client Connection Group community of satisfied dentists from coast to coast today!