Delaying Dental Treatment

Seattle cosmetic dentist Lance Timmerman DMD in Tukwila is often sought out for care, but treatment is delayed initially to, “wait until I NEED it.” The question of TIMING for dental care is interesting a debatable. However, it is INEVITABLE, so it is merely delaying something that WILL happen.

A good simile to delaying dental treatment is when dealing with termites. Termite infestation is serious. The little buggers can get into the foundation, walls and support structures to a house and eventually the entire structure is 100% unsafe. If left alone, nothing in the home can be salvaged and complete removal and reconstruction is the only option.

When the mouth has been neglected or simply not fixed every time something was recommended by a dentist, full mouth reconstruction may be indicated. Each case is different, so WHAT that means is unique to each patient. For some it is total removal of teeth and implants to support bridges, for others it is dentures. If keeping teeth is an option, crowns on all the teeth may be indicated and to do that correctly requires seeing a dentist experienced in that level of care, not all dentists are capable.

A common phrase amongst dentists is, “We will watch this.” Watch what? Watch it get worse? If disease is active, it simply makes the treatment more expensive and the only “winner” is the dentist (they get paid now or later, but make MORE if you wait until later). A very common phrase from patients that reconstruct or seek treatment is, “I wish I would have done this sooner.”

As time moves on, fixing things become more challenging. Sometimes the wait is so long that there are no viable options to fix things. Bone loss CAN get to a point that restoring is impossible. Waiting is often a bad thing.

Lance Timmerman