How Missing Teeth Affect your Oral Health
If you’ve lost a tooth, it can affect more than just the appearance of your smile. It’s true that missing teeth can negatively impact your smile & self esteem, but they’re also a significant hazard to your overall health and can have lasting consequences.
Problems Caused By Missing Teeth
Tooth Drifting
Tooth drifting is when your teeth shift out of place trying to fill the space left by missing teeth. Some tooth drifting is normal and may be unnoticeable. In more severe cases, tooth drifting can lead to:
- Gum sensitivity and tenderness
- Overcrowding
- Teeth not aligning when biting (malocclusion)
- Weakened teeth
- Further misalignment
- Susceptibility to further tooth loss
Painful Eating
When you’re missing teeth, eating can become painful and can negatively affect your oral health. Missing teeth means your gums and remaining teeth will have to take the leftover pressure those missing teeth were responsible for. This causes additional wear and tear on your teeth and gums, leading to possible:
- Soreness
- Bleeding
- Irritation
- Infection
- Temporomandibular joint dysfunction or TMJ
Digestive Issues
Digestion begins in your mouth, where food is chewed and exposed to saliva. Missing teeth impair digestion by making it harder for you to chew food and produce saliva. Chewing that’s impaired by tooth loss can lead to:
- Lack of nutrition
- Indigestion
- Damage to stomach lining
- Dehydration
- Increased risk of choking
Resorption
Your jawbone is continuously strengthened by stimulation of the roots of your teeth. When you chew, signals are sent to the roots of your teeth that encourage the body to send nutrients to that area. Anywhere a tooth is missing, the root of your tooth won’t be stimulated.
When your jawbone doesn’t get the nutrients it needs to reinforce itself, your body begins to reabsorb the bone in that area. This process is called resorption and if it’s not addressed, serious loss of jawbone density can occur.
Loss of jawbone density:
- Makes it harder to receive dental implants
- Weakens the rest of your teeth
- Distorts the shape of your face
- Encourages wrinkles
An Indicator of Overall Health
Tooth loss goes beyond issues with your oral health—it can also serve as an indicator of disease throughout the rest of your body. Diseases that affect your bones, your immune system, and your cellular health increase your risk of tooth loss. Some diseases that may result in tooth loss include:
- Osteoporosis
- Diabetes
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Hypertension
- Heart Disease
Tooth loss isn’t always a sign of more serious issues, but should always be treated promptly. Swift restorative care will help prevent further issues with your oral health and make it easier to identify and plan treatment for any underlying causes.
A Lifelong Solution: Dental Implants
Dental implants by Dr. Eggleston and his team could potentially be a lifelong solution to tooth loss and its comorbidities. These superior restorations help prevent tooth shifting, jawbone deterioration, indigestion, and further tooth loss. They look and act like real teeth, while being easy to maintain with proper at home preventive dental care and regular check-ups.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many teeth can be replaced with dental implants?
You can replace a single tooth, multiple teeth, or even a whole arch of missing teeth with dental implants. You don’t even need one implant for every missing tooth. For example, as few as four implants can be used to provide a full, permanent set of upper or lower teeth.
What if my jawbone isn’t strong enough for dental implants?
A strong, dense jawbone is needed to support dental implants and help them last a long time. Unfortunately, when you lose a tooth, that area of your jawbone loses stimulation and starts to deteriorate. As a result, patients who are missing several teeth can experience significant bone loss in their jaw. If your jawbone lacks the density to support implants, a bone grafting procedure will restore it to full strength and prepare you for surgery.
Will dentures prevent jawbone deterioration?
Unfortunately, no. Traditional removable dentures sit inside the mouth and don’t provide stimulation to the jawbone when chewing. This makes it impossible for dentures to prevent jawbone deterioration. This is one important reason why dental implants are preferred over dentures. The titanium posts that serve as the foundation for dental implants mimic the root of the tooth, stimulating the jawbone and helping to prevent deterioration.
Call Us to Restore And Preserve the Full Function Of Your Smile
Dr. Eggleston and his team at Eggleston Dental Care are ready to help you treat and prevent further tooth loss. Call our office in Turlock, CA at 209-226-4963 to learn more about how dental implants can restore your healthy, confident smile.