Missing teeth can have a big effect on your life, even though it’s a common problem.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 35 million adults in the United States are missing all of their upper and/or lower teeth. There are several reasons people may be missing teeth, including tooth decay, gum disease, or injury.
If you’re like most people, you probably think that you should replace missing teeth just because it looks better. While it’s true that one of the reasons to replace missing teeth is to improve your smile, there are other reasons why this is important. A missing tooth can lead to a misaligned bite, which can make chewing and eating difficult. It can also affect your ability to speak well and give you self-esteem issues.
Being missing teeth is not just about having an incomplete smile, though. It can also cause issues with eating and speaking as well as self-esteem.
Sure, you may think that missing one tooth—or even all of your teeth—isn’t a big deal. But it really is.
We’re not just talking about the aesthetic effects: the gaps in your smile and how it makes you feel self-conscious about smiling, laughing, or even being in photos. We’re talking about the health risks associated with leaving those gaps in your mouth. Because a missing tooth can lead to more than just an uneven smile and a dent in your confidence.
If you have missing teeth or know someone who does, here’s what you need to know about the different ways they can affect your life.
Understand the Problem
Recognizing that you have a problem is the first step to fixing it, and it’s tough to miss this one. If you’ve lost some teeth or are about to lose some teeth, you’ll notice. People will notice. A lot of people will notice.
The cause of the problem is either a bunch of years of chewing on stuff all day until your teeth wear down or an accident where somebody fell off their bike on top of your face and broke everything really well. This sucks, but it happens.
And, if not fixed with implants, dentures, or whatever else they can do these days (we’re not dentists), missing teeth can lead to some much bigger problems like infection and pain! Swell!
There are plenty of options out there for fixing missing teeth problems nowadays; if you have dental insurance through work, the cost might be more affordable than you think. Another option? Saving money in an HSA account for medical expenses just like this one!
Before you get in the way of your smile, it’s important to know how to address missing teeth.
Whether it’s a result of trauma or tooth decay, it’s important to know why you should take action when you have missing teeth.
Consequences of missing teeth
Here are some of the consequences of missing teeth:
1. Your other teeth could shift and cause problems with your bite and jaw pain
2. You could lose bone density in your jaw if you don’t replace your tooth
3. It can cause your face to look sunken in, meaning that you’ll look older than you really are!
4. Your speech could be affected (think lisp) if you have missing teeth
5. You may find yourself eating less because chewing is more difficult when you’re missing teeth
6. If space for a tooth is left open for too long, it can close up and prevent a dentist from being able to replace the tooth later down the line!
Missing teeth can damage the health of your gums
Missing teeth can damage the health of your gums and cause jawbone deterioration, which is why it is important to replace them.
Missing teeth can damage the health of your gums and cause jawbone deterioration, which is why it is important to replace them. You may not realize how much a missing tooth impacts your overall dental health, but there are many problems associated with missing teeth.
Most people know that missing teeth affect the appearance of their smile and can make it difficult to speak or eat. While these are common reasons to replace missing teeth, they aren’t the only reasons. There are plenty of other issues that can arise if you don’t address your missing teeth soon enough, including jawbone loss and gum disease.
The most obvious reason to replace a missing tooth is for cosmetic purposes—nobody wants a gap in their smile! But chewing food relies on every single tooth working together. When one or more teeth are lost, this balance is disrupted and causes misalignment in other areas of your mouth resulting in both functional problems (chewing difficulties) and cosmetic problems (a less attractive smile). Additionally, having fewer teeth makes it harder for the remaining ones to pick up the slack and do all of the work alone – further contributing to uneven wear and tear on certain surfaces of those remaining teeth.
This also leads people with gaps in their smiles from losing one or more adult molars over time because as these get filled with food particles bacteria accumulate around them causing decay at an accelerated rate which leads some people to want better oral hygiene habits so they can maintain good hygiene throughout their lives without needing costly dentistry procedures later on down the road!
Missing teeth problems can lead to other health issues if not treated immediately.
Problems associated with missing teeth
Missing teeth can cause underlying problems that may affect your dental health and general health if left untreated. These problems include:
- Gum disease. If you have missing teeth, the gum tissue around the space where your tooth is missing can become irritated and inflamed, leading to gum disease. This can result in tooth loss, which is why it’s important to replace missing teeth as soon as possible.
- Bite collapse. If a person has a missing front tooth or multiple front teeth, the surrounding teeth may tilt and shift into the empty space making it difficult to chew properly and speak clearly. Missing back teeth can also change how you bite down on food, which could lead to other dental problems such as jaw pain or headaches. Over time, these issues can lead to bone loss around the area where a tooth is missing, increasing your risk for further deterioration of your jawbone, facial collapse, and other health issues.
Missing teeth can cause a variety of problems, like altering your appearance, increasing your risk for gum disease and tooth decay, and making it harder to eat. It can even affect your ability to pronounce words clearly. If you have missing teeth, replacing them is important for many reasons.
What causes missing teeth?
There are a few common causes of missing teeth. Dental trauma or some types of tumors can lead to tooth loss, but the most common cause is advanced periodontal (gum) disease. Gum disease can start with bad oral hygiene, but also from genetics or other health conditions.
When it’s not treated properly, gum disease can progress to the point where it starts to destroy the bone in the jaw that is keeping your teeth in place. That’s when they’ll fall out or need to be removed.
Why replace missing teeth?
It might seem like a pain at first—and maybe even expensive—but replacing missing teeth is important for both your oral health and your self-esteem. Replacing your missing teeth will help you maintain good oral hygiene and prevent future dental problems while also restoring your smile and protecting the surrounding teeth from damage.
Having a missing tooth can be stressful. It can affect not only your self-confidence but also your diet and how clearly you speak. Most people are concerned with how to replace their missing teeth.
Missing teeth replacement options
There are two ways to do this: dentures or dental implants.
Dentures fill in the gaps in your smile and make sure you are eating a healthy, balanced meal plan. They don’t require surgery or recovery time, but they will need to be readjusted as your mouth changes over time.
Dental implants are permanent replacements for missing natural teeth. They offer a more stable chewing surface than dentures and may allow you to retain some of the bone structure in your jaw that would otherwise be lost without a tooth root in place. However, they do require surgery and recovery time before being used as normal replacement teeth. Missing teeth should always be replaced with either dentures or dental implants so that you can feel more like yourself again.
