Part of the objective of modern dentistry is for each and every patient to maintain their full set of healthy teeth and smile. These days we see fewer people who are losing all of their teeth because of the increased awareness of oral health and the advancements in dental technology that have taken place over the last decade.
Despite this, we find that many patients will lose a tooth or two without giving it much thought. The truth is that a missing tooth is much more than an imperfection in your smile. In the long run, it may have major implications for your dental health.
If you don’t use your muscles, your bones will start to atrophy in the same way if you don’t use your muscles either. The act of biting and chewing causes stimulation to the bones in your jaws because the force of these actions goes down the roots of your teeth and into the bone.
Even if you just lose one tooth, the bone that was formerly occupied by the tooth will begin to deteriorate and become less dense once it is no longer there. This impact is much more prominent if you are missing any of the teeth on either your upper or lower jaw, and it may lead to the face having a sunken and shortened appearance potentially.
Individuals who have lost teeth also face adverse consequences on both their quality of life and their health. Those who are missing teeth may find it difficult to consume nutritious items that are tough to chew, such as nuts, veggies, and meats. This may make it difficult for them to eat. As a direct consequence of this, many individuals who are missing teeth also have issues with their diet.
Patients who are self-conscious about their looks or their ability to eat may avoid social activities that they formerly loved because they are unable to do so because they are missing teeth. This may also have social ramifications.
If you are missing teeth, it is important that you investigate your alternatives for tooth replacement as soon as possible. If you do not, you might end up with a more serious dental problem over the long run. The longer you wait to have a missing tooth replaced, the more severe the difficulties you will have with bone loss and the other effects will be.
The following are the most common solutions for tooth replacement:
Dental Implants
Dental implants are without a doubt one of the most effective methods for restoring missing teeth. The fact that they replace both the tooth root and the crown is a significant contributor to this result.
Since it is embedded in the bone, the replacement tooth aids to stop any additional bone atrophy that may have occurred.
The end result is a set of permanent teeth that will remain in place for the rest of your life and perform their functions just as well as if you had never lost any of your natural teeth. In addition, dental implants, in contrast to other methods of tooth restoration, do not ever need to be replaced or altered, which means that you will only need to go through the procedure once.
Bridges
Bridges are artificial teeth that are attached to the natural teeth that are next to the gap created by the missing tooth or teeth. In the past, bridges were often crafted from precious metals, ceramics, or alloys; however, the material of choice for building bridges in modern times is most likely to be ceramic. This achieves the outcome that seems to be the most natural. An artificial tooth is placed in the space created by two hollow tooth crowns on each side of a ceramic bridge. These hollow crowns are then glued to surrounding healthy teeth that have been sculpted, and an artificial tooth that is placed in the centre of the gap created by your lost tooth is used to fill up the space.
Bridges may help prevent bone loss in the jaw as well as prevent the remaining teeth from slipping into the gap, which can cause your bite to become misaligned, make it difficult for you to chew food, and even damage your look.
Bridges are another option for replacing a missing tooth or teeth. While bridges are built to survive for a very long time and are quite sturdy, in most cases they will need to be rebuilt at some point. Bridges are a less ideal alternative than implants since they need the removal of tooth structure from healthy teeth in order to connect the bridge. As a result, the loss of one tooth might result in the loss of structure from more than one tooth.
Dentures and partial dentures
Dentures are dental prosthetics that may be used to replace a whole arch of missing teeth . Artificial teeth and gums are supported by a plate that fits over the patient’s gums and utilises the force of suction to keep them in place. Dentures are made up of this plate.
Dentures are removable replacement teeth that are often composed of a hard resin material that is pigmented to look like the patient’s natural teeth. Patients who are missing some of their teeth but not all of the teeth in an arch might benefit from having a partial placed in their mouth. They are made up of a plate that is positioned against the palate of the mouth, prosthetic teeth, and clips that are affixed to the patient’s natural teeth in order to keep the partial denture in place.
Dentures and partial dentures may restore the look of your smile as well as some of the function that it once had, but they cannot stop the bone loss that occurs when teeth are lost.
Even if you wear dentures, the size and form of the bones in your jaw will continue to alter as they deteriorate. Because of this, the natural bone structure that your dentures were created for will no longer be there, and you may need to have your dentures altered or replaced as a consequence.
For that, the total cost of dentures may wind up being more than the cost of dental implants in the long term, despite the fact that the upfront cost of dentures is cheaper.
Please do not hesitate to discuss your options with us if you are already missing teeth or are aware that you are in danger of losing teeth in the near future.
