Recent studies into the ramifications of edentulism (missing all-natural teeth) and partial edentulism (missing some natural teeth) have given dental implant marketing a big opportunity.
Do the seniors in your community know about the terrible connections between missing teeth and health problems, or do they think of missing teeth as merely an aesthetic problem?
Here is a short list of the health risks of living with missing teeth.
- Reduced life expectancy
- Higher risk of dementia
- Poor self-rated health
- Social isolation and depression
- Grief over losing natural teeth
- Oral cancer
Dental implant marketing has an excellent chance to highlight the health benefits of dental implants in a way that may lead many seniors to finally choose the treatment that they have been delaying.
The health of our mouths is a reliable indicator of whole-body health and the problems of missing teeth go well beyond embarrassment over our smile!
This blog post will focus on the connections between missing teeth and reduced life expectancy. For a look at the dementia connection, see the blog entitled Fight Dementia! With Dental Implant Marketing.
We’ll look at the other connections in more detail in later blog posts.
Reduced Life Expectancy and Missing Teeth
A recent study of centenarians discovered fact that those who had the most teeth at ages 65-74 had the greatest chance of reaching the age of 100! In other words, there was a direct connection between oral health as measured by the number of teeth a person had around the age of 70 and how many years that person had left to live.
There are many factors that are linked to tooth loss such as poor oral hygiene practices, trauma, smoking, lower socioeconomic status, and individual choices, and these, of course, have health consequences in and of themselves.
In other words, it could be argued that people are shortening their lives because of the effects of their poor habits, and their tooth loss simply reflects the impact of these lifestyle choices.
But another study in Japan established a direct, independent link between increased life expectancy and health! This is because the risk for seniors who have lost their teeth seems to lie in increasing oral frailty, a term that researchers have recently begun to use to describe the health of a person’s mouth.
And by replacing the missing teeth in a person’s mouth with either dentures or dental implants, we can restore that oral function and break for seniors the connection between missing teeth and reduced longevity!
And, as we all know, dental implants are, hands-down, the best choice that there is because further research has even established a link between bite force and longevity! Although dentures will restore oral function to a certain degree, they can never give back full biting power the way that dental implants will.
Another important connection between restoring full oral function and an extended lifespan lies in improvements to the diet of individuals with full dentition. The ability to eat a full range of foods, especially crunchy fruits, and vegetables, represents a boost in the chances of living well into the sunset years!
The conclusion of the study was expressed in two questions.
1. Can we conclude that the number of teeth in aging humans can affect longevity and life expectancy?
2. Is tooth loss a predictor of shortened longevity?
The answer to both of these questions was “Yes.”
Missing Teeth and Dental Implant Marketing
So how can we use these results in our dental implant marketing?
Perhaps it is best summed up in the words of C. Everett Koop, former US surgeon general, when he famously said, “You can’t be healthy without good oral health.”
If our dental implant marketing can remind the seniors in our communities that edentulism and partial edentulism place them firmly in the category of poor oral health, we have a major opportunity to increase the chances that they will choose dental implants as the solution!
And this is especially true if we can show them the direct connections between poor oral health and a reduced lifespan!
Dental Growth Partner To Help You Reach Seniors
Would you like a dental implant growth partner to help you to educate seniors in your community on the reduced life expectancy that is the result of living with missing teeth?
Consider reaching out to Client Connection Group today. Our powerful educational dental implant marketing will alert seniors to the need to seek implant solutions sooner rather than later!
Check out Client Connection Group’s unique program today!
More by Client Connection Group:
Dental Implant Marketing – 3 Steps to Building Powerful Connections With Seniors4 Reasons Seniors Respond to Positive Dental Implant Marketing