Calcium Plus Vitamin K2 & Vitamin D Equals Dental Implant Success
Dental implants are truly amazing. They look and feel exactly like your natural teeth, and they aren’t embarrassing, unlike dentures. What’s more, they require very little care, much like your natural teeth, to take care of. Of course, the easy ways to take care of both your teeth and your dental implants are tooth brushing, flossing and living a healthy lifestyle. But did you know dental implants heavily rely on your calcium, vitamin K2 and vitamin D levels? Here’s why these things are so important.
Why is Calcium Important?
Calcium is a huge factor for having strong and healthy teeth! In most dental implant cases, a patient requires bone grafting to support the dental implant underneath. That means the grafted bone has to be strong for the implant to stay in its place and be the tooth you want it to be! On top of that, calcium helps repair the enamel of your teeth which is under constant attack from plaque. Without calcium, your teeth and the rest of your bones are in big trouble.
Vitamin K2 is Important, But Hard to Find
But the answer to dental implant success isn’t just calcium. Case studies of post-menopausal women prove calcium by itself is not the answer to strong bones and even stronger dental implants. See, a bone is a spongy matrix of tissues with a hard outer shell to protect itself and is a living substance. To protect your bones from breaks and fractures, osteoblasts carry calcium from the bloodstream and bind to the bone all over, strengthening and keeping the tissues together. However, this process won’t work without help from the ‘lesser known’ vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 is essential as it’s the vitamin that starts the process of transporting calcium from the bloodstream to your bones, especially your teeth.
The thing about Vitamin K2 is, many of us severely lack it. What once was commonly consumed is now rare in today’s diets. That’s because it’s not in any junk foods and barely found in any foods on the store shelves. The lack of Vitamin K2 in our diets is enough to cause calcium to build up in the bloodstream, blocking blood flow in the arteries and putting you at risk of heart disease. Fortunately, there are a few great sources that are rich in Vitamin K2, you’ll just have to incorporate them into your diet. This includes, grass-fed beef products, liver, free range eggs and Gouda cheese.
Best Calcium Sources Fit for Your Needs
Incorporating Vitamin K2 in your diet can be tricky, but calcium definitely isn’t. The easiest ways to hit your daily calcium intake is dairy products – nonfat milk, swiss or mozzarella cheese and low-fat yogurt. Even if you’re lactose intolerant, buttermilk, cheese and yogurt are tolerable sources of calcium. Moreover, leafy green vegetables such as spinach (think Popeye) are rich in calcium, but the calcium is tightly bound and little of it will ever bind to your bones.
Calcium supplements are available to those who cannot achieve a calcium-sufficient diet with the foods above. Warning, some natural supplements out there contain significant amounts of lead, other heavy metals and even arsenic, all of which are poisonous to your body. We suggest Tums or Rolaids, they’re a couple of the least expensive but most tolerable calcium supplements available.
Don’t Forget About Vitamin D
The last, but easiest thing you need for strong and healthy teeth is vitamin D. We say it’s the easiest because your body naturally produces it just by getting out in the sun for as little as 15 minutes a day, three times a week. Even so, vitamin D is easy to find in foods such as fortified cereals, orange juice, shrimps, salmon and tuna.
Vitamin D is important because it helps your body absorb calcium from the foods you eat so it can get into the bloodstream, where vitamin K2 takes over and helps move it to your bones, including your teeth. But it doesn’t stop there! Vitamin D is also important to reduce the risk of periodontal disease, which is inflammation of the gums and by itself can cause dental implant failure. This special vitamin also helps you heal quicker following dental implant surgery.
Find More Success at One Stop Implants
It’s one thing to have dental implant success, it’s another to get a dental implant if you haven’t got one already! If you’re missing a tooth, there’s no better solution than a dental implant to help you gain your confidence back.
Our dentists at One Stop Implants are here just for you. From start to finish, they will answer all your questions about dental implants, their benefits and how to take care of them for a lifetime of dental implant success.
Are you ready to get your dental implant? Schedule a Free Consultation with us, online or by phone at (800) 862-2249!
