Missing Teeth Means Missing Out on So Much More

Dr. Kevin Hogan • October 2, 2018

Missing Teeth Can Alter Your Social Life

Do you skip lunches with friends or avoid social occasions because you are worried about how you look? When visiting with others, do you stay silent or cover your mouth when speaking, hoping others won’t notice the gap in your teeth?

Two of the primary jobs of your teeth are speaking and eating. Missing even one tooth can affect these everyday activities. It can create a lisp when you say certain sounds. A gap may be noticeable when you speak or laugh, causing you to be self-conscience.

When you have trouble speaking or eating, it can affect your social life and your confidence.

Missing Teeth Can Affect How You Eat

A missing tooth causes your jaw and remaining teeth to adjust how you chew food. This action can change how you speak and eat, impacting how your jaw functions, leading to pain, bone deterioration, gum disease, and other issues. In addition to that, chewing food with teeth that weren’t intended to do so can weaken your remaining teeth. It also makes it more difficult to clean the adjacent teeth, often leading to gum disease.

Gaps In Your Teeth Can Increase Tooth Sensitivity

When you find it difficult to chew certain foods, finding food you enjoy that you can still eat without pain or discomfort becomes more difficult. In many cases, a missing tooth increases tooth sensitivity, affecting the beverages you drink and the ability to enjoy both hot and cold foods.

Missing Teeth Affect the Rest of Your Mouth

At the onset, it may appear that a missing tooth only affects the gap in your mouth and your smile. The truth is that any teeth that do not function correctly put the rest of your teeth at risk. Each tooth is held in place by a root. When one tooth is missing, your remaining teeth can shift out of position, loosening the other roots and causing more teeth to fall out.

The roots of your teeth also support your jawbone. When in place, the roots allow the jawbone to grow, strengthen, and regenerate naturally. When you have missing teeth, your jaw could begin to deteriorate because it does not have the needed support from the root system. Over time you could lose more teeth, and it could ultimately change the shape of your face.

Dental Implants Provide a Comprehensive Solution to Missing Teeth

While modern dentistry offers several solutions to address missing teeth, the most advanced, permanent solution to missing teeth are dental implants. Implants offer permanent cosmetic result that replaces missing teeth with a truly natural looking tooth. The process of placing dental implants , which involves securing a titanium post into the jawbone, stops bone loss and returns function, allowing you to eat, speak and chew foods normally again. Properly caring for dental implants will result in your new teeth lasting decades.

To learn more about the benefits of dental implants , read the blog Everything You Need to Know About Dental Implants.

FAQs

Are tooth implants worth it?

Dental implants are a permanent solution to tooth loss and provide more than an aesthetic improvement in your appearance. Dental implants help support healthy adjacent teeth and prevent them falling out. Implants also help to stop bone loss and regenerate new bone growth in the area of the jaw where a tooth is missing.
Are implants as strong as real teeth?

Advances in dental implants and the components and materials used in dental implants continue to improve the strength and durability of this popular tooth replacement option. In general, the bite strength of a dental implant is roughly 80-90% of the strength of your natural teeth, allowing patients to the return of their normal biting and chewing function.
What is the alternative to dental implants?

Dental implants are one of the most popular options for replacing one or more missing teeth. In addition to implants, full or partial, fixed or removable bridges are a common treatment used to replace missing teeth between adjacent healthy teeth.
Are teeth implants painful?

Dental implants are a permanent solution to replace one or more missing teeth. The procedure is usually performed under general anesthetic with an associated local anesthetic to completely numb the jaw. After you awaken form the surgery and the local numbing agent wears off, you may experience mild pain and bruising for several days which is usually controlled well will over the counter pain medication. After you have healed form the surgery, you should no longer experience any pain.
How long do teeth implants last?

A typical dental implant will easily last 25 years or more with good dental hygiene and proper care and maintenance. Maintaining dental implants is no different than caring for your natural teeth and require twice daily oral care and good hygiene practices. Failure to properly care for and maintain your dental implants can greatly shorten the expected life of your implants.