About Missing Teeth
Missing teeth can be a tremendous cause of anxiety. Losing a tooth from either gum disease, tooth infection or an accident can be traumatic in itself but the long-term fallout can be equally traumatic. If a back tooth is lost, the ability to eat and chew food is compromised. In addition, the other teeth may drift or tilt into an unhealthy position and cause problems with the way a person bites. This can lead to jaw issues like TMJ disorder. If a front tooth is lost a person’s ability to bite or tear their food is affected, not to mention the change in a person’s smile. Many people with missing teeth don’t smile the same way they did when they had all their teeth.
Here are 7 reasons to make you seriously consider getting teeth replacements:
1. When teeth are missing it can lead to jaw bone loss at the site of the gap
In the same way that exercising your body helps keep muscle tone, jaw bone mass is maintained through the stimulation of chewing and biting. When a tooth is missing, the area of bone where the tooth was originally located no longer receives such stimulation and it starts to disappear – a process called resorption.
2. The remaining teeth can become misaligned, drift into the gap or loosen
Without a neighbouring tooth to keep them in check, the remaining teeth may start to drift. This could make it difficult to bite and chew if the teeth are no longer aligned properly. Furthermore, the drifting of a tooth can destabilise its roots, leading to a wobbly tooth or outright loss.
3. Missing teeth may alter facial features
Without teeth being in place to ‘support’ the face, a person’s facial features may start to look distorted, with sunken cheeks and skin wrinkling around the mouth.
4. Missing teeth can cause chronic headaches
If you had a diseased tooth which caused you pain and had to be removed, you may believe that your problems are over. However, this is not the case. When teeth are missing the remaining teeth have no opposite number to rest on or bite against. The remaining teeth may start to over-erupt and cause damage to the opposing gum. Not only does this cause gum and facial pain, but with time the situation causes stress at the jaw joint (Temporo Mandibular Joint) leading to chronic headaches.
5. Inability to talk properly
A lack of teeth can make it difficult for people to pronounce certain words properly and they may have a whistling sound each time they speak.
6. Inadequate nutrition
When people can’t bite and chew their food properly without pain, many simply eat less or choose to eat only soft food which doesn’t provide them with all the nutrients they require. Consequently, this takes a toll on the health of their whole body.
7. Sinus expansion
If teeth are lost from the back upper jaw, the sinus cavity which lies above will start to expand and erode the jaw bone.
The good news is that there are variety of options to replace missing teeth. At Love Your Smile Today our dentists are experts in replacing missing teeth, whether they are done with dentures, bridges or implants. The specific approach used depends on the number of teeth missing, health of the jaw, and other factors. We can help restore your smile and fill in all those gaps. Schedule an appointment and find out how we can help you get back your beautiful smile!
