The Effects of Missing Teeth
The effects of missing teeth can be detrimental to your long term oral and medical health. Missing teeth are also recognized associated with old age and can make you look older than you are.
As bone loss caused by missing teeth continues, the face continues to shorten and show signs of age.
Replacing missing teeth can dramatically improve your smile and the shape of your face. This greatly enhances both your dental health and self-esteem.
Value of edges of the teeth and lips
An Off-bite Relationship
Having gaps where teeth are missing affects the way the jaw closes. The remaining teeth begin to tilt and drift into the gaps. In addition, food can become trapped in these spaces, increasing the risk of decay and gum disease. The tilting and drifting can also cause problems for the opposing teeth. An opposing tooth will begin to hyper erupt and begin to drift into the open space of the missing tooth, causing the opposing jaw-line to have bite relationship problems; thus beginning TMJ problems (problems with the jaw joint).
Such extracted spaces are detrimental to a person in that food is impacted between and it can irritate gum tissue. The illustration to the above shows how, given enough time, the remaining teeth can shift and drift when a tooth is lost. Such shifting takes time, but 10 to 20 years can, and often does, result in the situation pictured here.
Jawbone Deterioration
As soon as a tooth is lost, either from gum disease or an extraction, the supporting bone in the jaw begins to dissolve. This process is called resorption. The longer a tooth is missing, the greater the bone loss.
Your jawbone needs the chewing action of the teeth to stimulate it and keep it strong. Otherwise it will begin to disappear (atrophy) in the same manner that the unused muscles beneath a cast supporting a broken bone get smaller. Without the support of your teeth and facial bones, your face will begin to look prematurely aged. The good news is that tooth replacement with dental implants offers a solution to help prevent bone loss.
Over time, resorption of the jawbone has a considerable effect on quality of life and on the possibility of replacing the missing teeth. As teeth are lost it becomes more difficult to eat and chew food. Studies have shown that denture wearers eat only soft or mashed foods and or avoid many foods altogether. And over time, more and more of the jaw bone disintegrates until it becomes very difficult to place any dental restoration.
Benefits of Replacing a Tooth Immediately
A tooth should be replaced as soon as it is lost. This will retain your oral health by preventing bone loss, reducing movement of surrounding teeth and avoiding excess decay.
Teeth provide more functions than just the ability to chew. They are necessary for the health of the gum and jaw tissues as well, and a prolonged absence of a tooth will severely limit the possibilities for restorations. Missing teeth may also affect your confidence and well-being.
