How the covid pandemic is affecting your teeth

You may also not realize you have gum disease, the most common culprit for adult tooth loss. The condition tends not to be very painful and very gradually worsens, meaning it can go

undetected for years if you aren't visiting the dentist. That’s part of the reason that 70 percent of adults over 65 have some form of gum disease, as a study by the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found. Finally, fillings collected over the years also create risk. “The more dentistry you accumulate in your lifetime, the more potential problems

you’ll have later on,” says Allen Samuelson, associate professor at the Adams School of Dentistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who explains that fillings can weaken

and fracture along the edges, allowing bacteria to seep into the tiny crevices, also leading to decay. “There’s an expression: There’s no dentistry like no dentistry. It’s particularly

important to take care of your mouth after 50 if you’ve had tons of work done before 50. The more restoration you’ve had, in a way, the more of a predictor it is for future problems.”

MANDATORY MAINTENANCE Tooth decay can be stopped in its tracks — or even reversed — if detected early enough. If not, a cavity will eventually work its way through the dentin layer of your

tooth, just below the enamel. Left untreated, such decay may reach the nerve, and a cavity that could have been treated with a filling will require a more involved (and painful) procedure,

such as a root canal and crown — or possibly an extraction and dental implant.  The American Dental Association (ADA) recommends regular professional cleanings to do away with

cavity-causing plaque and tartar buildup that brushing alone cannot eliminate. Once-a-year dental cleanings may be enough for patients with no risk factors (such as smoking or diabetes),

according to a study in the _Journal of Dental Research__. _“Proper oral health should be individualized,” says Alice Boghosian, DDS, a spokesperson for the ADA. “Some patients build up

tartar faster than others and need to come more often. A patient without a single filling in their mouth does not need X-rays as often as somebody who has had several crowns in their

mouth, because that person is more prone to decay and needs more dental treatment,” she says. WHAT TO KNOW AS YOU SCHEDULE YOUR APPOINTMENT While understandable fears of COVID-19

transmission kept many from the dentist’s chair, a recent study led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), published in the journal _Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences_, found that dental offices (along with banks and colleges) have one of the best risk-benefit profiles of businesses providing everyday services during the pandemic.