Many seniors have full dentures - did they lose all of their teeth naturally, or at some point does the dentist just “knock the rest out” so that they can have full dentures?
As someone who almost had to have all his teeth pulled at 47 (“seniors”; hmph!), I can say that for me I would have lost them been naturally, if gingivitis is considered natural. Instead, I had an 11-hour oral surgery that was no phone, but I still have all my teeth.
The same with my father and grandparents; all had their teeth pulled by the time they were 50. I don’t know; we all took pretty good care of our teeth. There may be some genetic component.
Should be: “I would have lost them naturally . . .”
Well, there was no phone, but it was no fun, either, which is what I meant to say.
I’m going home . . .
What do you mean by naturally, exactly? See, I have partial dentures. Did any of my teeth fall out naturally? One did. The rest were pulled. They were pulled out one by one because they were loose and painful ( gum disease. I got my first partial at 33. Dentist says it’s most likely genetic). My dentist never wants to pull a tooth he doesn’t have to, but there will come a point when either there aren’t enough teeth left for a partial, or saving a few remaining teeth for the short time they have left won’t be worth the expense of adding teeth to the partial.
I used to go to this horrid dentist who told me at age 20, that my teeth were too soft and would all come out, so I must get dentures.
Upper.
He pulled 4 once, then 4 weeks later, then finally the front 6 and put the plate in.
I was sad.
Espeically since that is never necessary.
Never occured tohim to do root canals or anything.
I still hate him.
20 years old. :mad:
I do still have 4 teeth of my own on the bottom(all in front).
Of course he doesn’t! Those babies are his 401-K!
My pop had full dentures at age 21. I’m 40 and still have all my choppers except one (and that includes my extra wisdom teeth).
That’s ok my dad sometimes has trouble talking with his dentures in, too 
Yeah what’s with all this talk about seniors getting dentures?
I had all my teeth removed at age 28.
My teeth were always very soft. (I took good care of them and drank my milk, etc)
Eventually, the dentist said that I’d have to have a full upper denture and then bridgework, partial dentures for the bottom. I said NO - take tham all out. (Hey they were bad and wuld have come out eventually).
My father had all his teeth out in his 40’s and my mother in her 30’s. I guess there is something to that genetic link to dental health.
Oh and I never regretted having had it done. (I’ve had toothaches like you wouldn’t believe).
Heck, I had the pleasure of hearing a dental technician say my teeth were the most eroded she’d seen in 11 years in the biz. As an experiment, the dentist coated the inside of several of my teeth with a ceramic, turning my concavity in convexity. I’ll get the rest done assuming the ceramic holds.
And I’m only 35.
It’s not really on point, but if I don’t take steps to protect my teeth now, I might be getting a whole bunch of them yanked and repaced before I’m even close to senior-hood.
My mother had all her(top) teeth pulled at age 28. No-one else in my family has ever had even a cavity. I still wonder about that.
Believe it or not, but not so many years ago people used to have all their teeth extracted as a matter of course when still in their twenties. I think the reasoning behind this was that bad teeth could lead to other illnesses so , to be on the safe side they all came out . I have done a search on the web and the only article I can find about practice was here :-
http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/band83/b83-4.html
Look towards the bottom of the page.
I had all mine pulled 20 years ago. Haven’t seen a dentist in eighteen years, since the permanent dentures were available. Wish I had had it done when I was 21. Oh, the agony it would have saved. And the money. Love my falsies. If they hurt, it’s in the cup with them. And I can eat anything I want to, including corn-on-the-cob and tough steak. Couldn’t do that before.