If you’re missing one or more of your teeth, you know just how difficult it can be to complete daily tasks, like eating, speaking clearly, and smiling with confidence. Fortunately, dental implants are available to replace the entirety of your missing tooth. Dental implants have an incredible success rate of over 95%, but they aren’t completely indestructible. Continue reading to learn about how vitamin D takes a role in the success of dental implants.
Why Is Sufficient Vitamin D Necessary for Dental Implants?
Vitamin D is crucial for the health of bones and teeth. Ultimately, vitamin D helps your body to regulate the amount of phosphate and calcium in the body. Calcium is a mineral that is known to keep your bones and teeth strong and healthy. Without vitamin D, you would be suffering from an extreme calcium deficiency, leading you to experience a number of problems for your dental health, like tooth decay and gum disease. When you have these issues, it is much less likely that you will end up with successful dental implants. Calcium deficiency doesn’t just affect your smile either. It is linked to many other serious issues in the body, including, depression, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, and cancer.
How Do You Get Enough Vitamin D?
The best way to get vitamin D is by absorbing it from the sun. By spending enough time outside, you can see huge changes in the amount of vitamin D and calcium your body has. The amount of time required for a sufficient amount of vitamin D absorption depends from person to person. This is because humans have a wide variety of skin tones that absorb the sun’s rays at a different pace. People who have darker skin tones have more melanin, which protects from overexposure. Because of this, people with darker complexions require anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours more than Caucasians, who only need about 10 to 30 minutes a few times a week.
How Else Can You Absorb Vitamin D?
The best way to get vitamin D is from the sun, but you can also absorb it through certain foods. Here are a few of them:
- Fatty fish and seafood
- Fortified cow’s milk
- Egg yolks
- Portabella mushrooms
- Dietary supplements
Getting the nutrients that you need is essential for the health of your dental implants as well as the rest of your body. By spending enough time in the sun and/or obtaining vitamin D through other options, you can give your implants the best chance of success!
About the Author
Dr. Yaritza Vazquez is an experienced dentist who has been working in the field for over a decade. She earned her Doctor of Dental Medicine at the University of Puerto Rico School of Dental Medicine, followed by a GPR at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston. Currently, she is a proud member of the American Academy of Periodontology, the American Dental Association, and the Texas Dental Association. To learn more about dental implants or to schedule an appointment at her office in Garland, visit her website or call (972) 530-7979.
