When it comes to personal features, a smile is one of the first aspects that we will notice about another individual. On top of that, a person’s smile can often leave a lasting impression for other people we meet. With all of this in mind, it’s no surprise to find out that losing one or more teeth can change the way others view you and the way you will view yourself. This lowered self-confidence is enough to affect all aspects of an individual’s life. Whether it includes work life or social relationships, tooth loss can negatively impact the quality of life a person enjoys. For many of our patients here in Waterloo, ON, dental implants are a great solution to give them back a smile they can feel confident with. Taking the step to begin your dental implant process is a great way to overcome the emotional turmoil patients feel when experiencing tooth loss. Dr. K. Ashraf explains how tooth loss has an emotional impact on patients and how restoring your smile with dental implants can positively affect your confidence and overall quality of life.
Although we focus on the negative aesthetics of a smile with missing gaps, we often forget about the emotional trauma that can accompany tooth loss. It’s often been reported that the loss of a tooth can be quite similar to the emotional response you would expect from an individual that has lost a body part or the death of a friend or family member. The emotional pattern of these individuals will generally go as follows:
As you can see, tooth loss is quite an emotional rollercoaster; These different stages of dealing with tooth loss can result in several behavioral changes. Changes in behavior can mean less social interaction with others, trouble forming close relationships and difficulty with romantic relationships. One of the stand-out responses to tooth loss is depression and anxiety, which can affect an individual in their personal and professional life.
Researchers from West Virginia University, Morgantown, have been able to scientifically prove the link between depression or anxiety and tooth loss. After analyzing research from the Centers for Disease Control, researchers found that individuals with tooth loss are more likely to be diagnosed with depression or anxiety. The study found that women, in particular, have a link between not visiting the dentist and depression. In fact, researchers found that women who did not visit the dentist within the past year were 29% more likely to experience depression than women who regularly visit the dentist.
Although it’s hard to say what causes the other, there’s a definite correlation between depression and tooth loss. Depression can be a result of tooth loss due to lack of self-confidence and damaged relationships or vice versa. Tooth loss can be a result of depression because individuals suffering from depression are less likely to focus on self-care and oral health.
Now that we know how tooth loss can affect the mental health of an individual, let’s take a look at how we can remedy the situation. For most of our patients here in Waterloo, we recommend dental implants to give them a healthy, complete smile. Dental implants are the most natural-looking option for patients who want to restore their smile. This restoration option allows for patient’s to enjoy a restoration that looks, feels, and acts just like natural teeth. Restoring an individual’s smile can encourage them to smile more, which has been proven to have many benefits including:
If you’re on the fence about restoring your smile, think about all of the negative emotional effects you can deal with along with the positive effects of smiling that you will enjoy with a restored smile. Dental implants won’t just improve your oral health, it can also affect the overall quality of your life and relationships with others. Enjoy a beautiful, restored smile for years to come with the high-quality dental implants Dr. K Ashraf offers for his patients here in Waterloo. Interested in starting your dental implant process? Contact our office today to schedule your one-on-one consultation with Dr. Ashraf.
During this difficult time, we are trying to do our part during the COVID-19 crisis. We are continuing to see patients with dentofacial emergencies. This means as one of the few practices remaining open during this pandemic, we are treating patients with emergencies from our fellow dental colleagues, in the Waterloo and Wellington regions (Waterloo-Kitchener-Cambridge and Guelph and surrounding townships)
We hope to assist and help as many people as we can. We also hope this will reduce the number of patients that are visiting hospitals that can be treated by us, thus freeing up time and room for the hospitals and slowing the spread of this virus.
Some additional steps our practice has taken to slow down the spread of the virus and "flatten the curve" are:
- Sanitation of common areas such as the front entry doors and the waiting room in between every patient
- Appointments are spread out so that the waiting area only has one patient at a time
- All front desk staff are wearing masks
- State of the art air purifiers (Surgically Clean Air Units x5 in total)
- Patients receive gloves upon entering the clinic
And of course we have all required PPE protocol set as a standard by the Royal College of Dental Surgeons and the Province of Ontario.
During this time we all need to help each other and do our part, only then can we pull through this quicker and return to a more happy, thankful and prosperous society.
Wishing you all the best of health,
From our family to yours.