3 Things That Can Happen If You Do Not Replace Missing Teeth
October 24, 2016
Replacing a missing tooth is essential for more reasons than simply aesthetics. A variety of health problems can also come up. Ultimately, you want to replace a lost tooth as soon as possible before the rest of your teeth and your gums suffer.
1. Inability to Chew Certain Foods or Say Specific Words
All of your oral structures need to work together to allow you to eat and talk. Even if just a single tooth goes missing, those functions can be hampered. For example, depending on where the missing tooth was located, it may be more difficult to chew harder, more fibrous foods. The way you pronounce certain words may also change.
2. Increased Chance of Misaligned Teeth
Your teeth might be perfectly straight right now, but if a tooth goes missing, then there is extra space that needs to be accounted for. The surrounding teeth might reposition themselves in order to compensate for the additional room. If this happens, it is going to be much tougher to fill in the gap. Your teeth may need to be repositioned first, which necessitates more treatments and time.
3. Jaw Bone Resorption
Your jaw bone remains healthy due to the stimulation it receives from all the tooth roots placed within it. When one root goes missing, then that portion of the bone can resorb back into the body. For this reason, it is good to replace a missing tooth with a dental implant. The advantage implants have here when compared to other restorations is the fact that implants act as a replacement tooth root. Therefore, the jaw bone continues receiving stimulation and has a better chance of remaining healthy and strong.
Let Our Dentist Help You
As soon as one of your teeth goes missing, you need to schedule an appointment at Dr. Joseph Bedich’s office. Our staff offers a number of treatments to assist you, and we can even provide you with dental implants if you want.