Consequences of Tooth Loss

If any of your teeth are missing, the consequences can be profound, both physically and emotionally. Favorite foods become difficult to enjoy (or even to eat at all), and social interactions become more challenging. Yet there are effects of tooth loss that are not immediately obvious-even to those experiencing them. It is important to be aware of these hidden consequences, because they can adversely affect your health in ways that become harder to remedy over time. Plus, knowing what happens to your mouth after teeth are lost can help you decide on the best way to replace them.

Use It or Lose It: Tooth Loss Causes Bone Loss

Bone needs stimulation to maintain its volume and density. In the case of the bone that surrounds and supports your teeth, that stimulation comes from the teeth touching each other in chewing, speech and normal activity, hundreds of times throughout the day. These stresses prompt the bone underneath each tooth to rebuild continually, maintaining bone density. When a tooth is lost, the stimulation it once provided ceases. This causes the supporting bone in the jaw to shrink in a process called resorption. The longer the tooth is missing, the greater the amount of bone loss. Wearing removable dentures accelerates this process because of the way they press on the bony ridge.

Studies have shown that during the first year after tooth loss there is a 25% decrease in width of bone, and, over the next few years, an overall 4-millimeter decrease in height. Loss of bone makes a person look much older and can make an individual more prone to jaw fractures. As if all of this wasn’t enough to worry about, there’s the risk of malnutrition. As teeth are lost, it becomes more difficult to eat and chew food effectively. Unfortunately, the healthier foods – raw fruits and vegetables – usually become the most difficult to chew for toothless people.

Maintaining Healthy Bone With Dental Implants

None of these problems need occur when missing teeth are replaced with natural-looking prosthetic teeth supported by dental implants. Besides helping a person without teeth look and feel great again, they can actually help prevent bone loss. No other tooth-replacement option offers this important health benefit.

A primary reason to consider dental implants to replace missing teeth, then, is the maintenance of the jawbone. As described earlier, your jawbone needs stimulation to stay healthy. Because implants are made of titanium, bone will attach to them, and maintain bone density. Replacement teeth supported by dental implants do not put pressure on the gums or the surfaces of the bony ridges of your mouth the way that removable dentures do. They also do not compromise adjacent healthy teeth, as standard dental bridges do. In fact, as time goes by, and you continue to enjoy life with great-looking, functional teeth, you’ll hardly think about the fact that you have dental implants. Best of all, they will likely never need to be replaced – your investment will still be paying dividends far into the future.