Staying healthy as we age is critical, and a big part of maintaining overall fitness includes a healthy mouth, says Dr. Rudy Wassenaar of Williams Lake Smiles.
The Williams Lake dentist reached a new milestone with his implant dentistry this year to help clients achieve that goal by joining 426 other dentists across North America in becoming an expert in implant care. Specifically he has been named a Diplomate in Implant Dentistry by the American Board of Oral Implantology/Implant Dentistry.
“As you get older, you want fewer problems to deal with rather than more. That’s what implants mean for the elderly,” said Wassenaar.
Having the option of getting implants right here in Williams Lake is also important for seniors as they don’t have to travel for the service, he said, noting there are many advantages to having implants.
Implants help maintain bone density and also keep teeth in place.
Wassenaar said seniors who experience teeth trouble can become malnourished over time due to a lack of fibre and vitamins caused by an inability to eat properly. Some seniors also suffer in silence with pain or self esteem issues surrounding their teeth, leading to loneliness.
“They just won’t go out if their having trouble, and so they become more and more isolated.”
Wassenaar’s latest implant credentials puts him in an elite class of about a dozen other dentists in the country, he explained.
To qualify as a diplomate, Wassenaar had to apply to write the exam, submit courses he’d taken to date, and complete 400 hours of specified dental implant training.
Wassenar has been making implants for almost 30 years, so to qualify for the diplomate designation, he submitted X-rays, photos of actual cases and had to make sure he covered a certain variety, complexity and show different areas of the mouth.
He also wrote a board exam and participated in an oral exam where an expert panel of implant dentists discussed the cases he submitted and asked him questions.
The panel wanted to see cases he had done years ago to observe how the implants have lasted. They asked him questions about more recent cases and queried him about other dentists’ cases.
“They give you two minutes to look at the case and then ask what I would do in this case, why and why not,” he said.
For example, if a patient has no teeth at all how would he rebuild their teeth?
“Sometimes there are trauma cases where due to an accident a patient will lose teeth, say a hockey puck to the mouth,” he said. “That could knock out teeth and damage gums.”
In some cases an implant might require growing bone to support deficiencies using bio-technology where the patient's own healing potential is maximized that has been around 15 to 20 years.
On average Wassenaar installs 200 implants a year with patients coming from all over B.C.
He estimates on average 25 to 30 per cent of seniors do not have their teeth and for many people the implants are a game changer.
“Implants are about a third of what I do,” he said.
To walk the talk, Wassenaar had bone grafting done three years ago to remedy the fact he was missing some teeth.
“It was an interesting experience as a dentist who does it all the time to undergo the procedure,” he said.