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Original poster

Dentures. Why do so many olde people have dentures?

212 replies

Fordian · 06/10/2021 21:58

It has occurred to me a couple of times.

I work in health care and see The Ages of Dentition 😊

No one under 40 has a filling. Everyone from 40-70 has a face like a Cornish tin mine. Everyone older has dentures.

Why?

Please, I'm not looking for any 'Well, I'm 80 with a full set of natural teeth'- I'm generalising 😂

But given that the older folk didn't encounter a grain of sugar on their entire youth (if you were to believe my mother, RIP, b. 1933)... why?

What changed? What factors came into play?

OP posts:
NumberNineTwo · 06/10/2021 22:30

Lots of NHS dentists used to do unnecessary work for the money. It was still happening even just 10-15 years ago. I don’t know if it happens now? I suppose there are fewer NHS dentists around now anyway.

Skysblue · 06/10/2021 22:30

My grandparents both had dentures. They both had all of their teeth removed in their thirties because they were told that tbey had a progressive tooth disease that needed the teeth out.

This disease has now been proved not to exist 😖 but I imagine this practice was one reason that dentures were so common.

Be careful who you listen to eh.

Hillary17 · 06/10/2021 22:30

33 here. Have a partial denture already! Accident smashed 3 teeth to bits, sadly front ones. Never had a filing, reasonably regular at the dentist but was distraught when they said I’d need a denture! Am over the embarrassment of it now but when I told people you’d be AMAZED how many people have a denture young and don’t tell anybody!!

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Dental health
NoBetterthanSheShouldBe · 06/10/2021 22:31

I’m in my 60s and fairly sure my childhood dentist gave unnecessary fillings. Changed dentists at 20 and had far fewer fillings after that … now it’s all about having the old ones replaced.

Teeth were brushed once a day, nobody flossed, no fluoride. DSCs in the 80s had coating applied to their molars to prevent fillings. DCs in the 00s did not, but no fillings.

coldwarenigma · 06/10/2021 22:31

We were given fruit after or as a substitute for cleaning teeth...DGM was convinced apple cleaned teeth...

SusannaOwens · 06/10/2021 22:34

I'm 52 and have a mouthful of fillings and crowns. Never went to the dentist as a teen, our dentist was terrifying and the injections were awful. I haven't had an NHS dentist since I was 16, pregnancy sickness did nothing for my teeth, then I had a lot of unnecessary work done by a cowboy dentist and there's no real way back from that. I don't see the dentist as often as I should, as it's too expensive and now my gums are receding round my crowns.
My Mum is 73 and probably has better teeth than me.

Lessstressedhemum · 06/10/2021 22:35

In saying that, though, I haven't had a new filling since I was 15. I've just had to have old ones replaced over time or the tooth taken out because it was weakened. But then I had anorexia for 20 years and hyperemesis 5 times, so my tooth enamel is shot to pieces.

Anycolourwilldo · 06/10/2021 22:36

Isn't it mainly to do with fluoride? I think it is...

FreezerBird · 06/10/2021 22:37

Lots of people mentioning fluoride in water but only parts of the midlands and I think the northeast of England artificially fluoridated water. There are a few areas where fluoride levels are naturally high but most of the UK doesn't have fluoridated water.

I think this is set to change, going by something I vaguely heard on the radio this morning.

Kite22 · 06/10/2021 22:38

I'm mid fifties and have tons of fillings as does almost everyone my age that I know.
We didn't really have access to dentists. You only went when there was something wrong with your teeth. No such thing as regular check ups.

Nope, my siblings and I range from 60 down to 54 and we were all taken for check ups every 6 months. This must have been your parents not taking you, rather than not being available.

TrainforSpeed · 06/10/2021 22:40

I'm mid 50s and we went to the dentist religiously as children too. I have no fillings. DSis' teeth went to ruin while she was at Uni and regularly vomiting through alcoholic excesses.

MrsFin · 06/10/2021 22:41

Fluoride.

TableFlowerss · 06/10/2021 22:51

@Indigokitten

No one under 40 has a filling ??
I know, what a ridiculous think to say…..
Zeflyinghelmetandzevetcelery · 06/10/2021 22:52

I'm mid 50s and have a lot of fillings. Dentists used to be paid per filling and I had one in the early 80s who over a few years drilled and filled every one of my molars and pre molars on the strength of slight shadows on x-rays. None of the teeth had visible decay and I couldn't see the shadows he tried to show me, but I naively trusted him. That wouldn't be allowed to happen now.

TableFlowerss · 06/10/2021 22:54

Depending on how often someone snacks

Whether you have stronger/weaker teeth

The shape of your teeth

Whether you eat too much sugar

Gum disease

There’s several factors, it’s not just down to not cleaning teeth is it….

TheDogsMother · 06/10/2021 22:54

I didn't have a single filling until age 14, I moved dentists then in no time I had many. My mother was extremely vigilant about no sweets but I discovered years later that during that time (70s) dentists were paid per filling which may explain it.

ZealAndArdour · 06/10/2021 22:54

*No one under 40 has a metal coloured filling.

Lots probably have white composite ones.

longwayoff · 06/10/2021 22:56

Dental hygiene and fluoride has vastly improved our teeth. Many Post War dentists were horrific and yanked teeth or filled unnecessarily. Pain relief was primitive. Dental practice has improved beyond belief. My children happily attended 6 month check ups without a qualm. I'm still not keen and have no fillings age 70 but still recall the terror of the school dentist.

TheDogsMother · 06/10/2021 22:59

Oh and should say since age 16 haven't had a new filling which I think may prove the point on dentists being paid for fillings.

unknownstory · 06/10/2021 23:09

I'm another who had a cowboy dentist who wrecked my teeth with suddenly loads of fillings in the 80s. That weakened all my teeth

Dragonmead · 06/10/2021 23:14

Joining the list of folks who had drill happy NHS dentists in the 1970s/80s. Our dentist eventually got stuck off.

YesIDoLoveCrisps · 06/10/2021 23:19

Kids that are 14+ now will want perfect teeth because they want perfect Instagram smiles

Libraryghost · 06/10/2021 23:24

Dentists used to rip them out because it was easier and cheaper. Dentistry has improved significantly and dentists are now able to save teeth where they previously couldn’t. Smoking was rampant also. Nothing will make you lose your teeth faster than fagging it (gum disease)

TableFlowerss · 06/10/2021 23:25

It’s making me angry hearing about the scandal in the 70’s, because I think this happens to me.

I was a child of the 80’s. Sweets etc were a treat and certainly not available to me the way they are these days. Would have had sugar but again not as much as today.

By the age of 8 I was having filling every single visit. Do as a child I had a mouth full of fillings. At 18 I stopped going to said dentist and didn’t go back to any dentist for about 4 years.

I was terrified to go to a new one as I thought I’d need my teeth pulled out, yet I didn’t need a single filling….

I’ve always wondered if the first dentist --butcher-- filled all my molars unnecessarily?…

Libraryghost · 06/10/2021 23:28

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