Is It a Risk to Live with a Missing Tooth?

19/10/2023

Is It a Risk to Live with a Missing Tooth?

‘Should I have a missing tooth replaced as soon as possible?’ is one of the questions our patients ask us on a regular basis. And it’s a great question. As teeth can’t self-repair, our patients are right to be concerned about whether or not they need tooth replacement treatment as early as possible.

If you’ve newly lost a tooth, or you have been living with gaps in your smile for some time, you’ll hopefully find this blog useful to you, as we’re looking into the consequences of having missing teeth, and how these affect your health in the long term.

What happens when you lose a tooth?

Unfortunately, teeth are a bit of a flaw in the human anatomy.

Once we lose our baby teeth and gain our adult teeth, this is where new tooth regeneration ends. Unlike sharks (who can produce thousands and thousands of new teeth in their lifetime), we humans must deal with an empty socket once adult teeth start falling out. 

Tooth loss is avoidable, and here at Oatlands Dental Lounge, teaching our patients how to protect their natural adult teeth is one of the most important aspects of what we do as dentists.

If you have lost a tooth though, there is a way back for your smile and oral health.

So, why replace a missing tooth?

When you lose a tooth, multiple aspects of your oral health are affected, and your emotional well-being can be compromised too.

Jawbone shrinkage (clinically known as resorption)

After 12 months of living without a tooth, up to 25% of the jawbone can shrink away. This incrementally worsens with every year that goes by. Eventually, jawbone loss can cause a significant alteration to the overall structure of your face. The lower third of the face can appear more angulated due to atrophy (bone loss), which also affects the area under the cheeks, which can look hollow and lacking in volume.

These changes can go be really unexpected and cause severe distress to patients who have lost teeth (and rightly so – we completely understand how shocking it can be for your appearance to change in this way; in many cases, patients do not expect it).

With dental implants, Weybridge-based dentists here at Oatlands can prevent and even reverse this process, leaving you with a younger-looking facial structure. This is only possible with dental implants, which are replacement tooth roots. These titanium false tooth roots reintroduce the stimulation needed to trigger the jawbone out of being dormant.

Chewing dysfunction

Having just one missing (or even loose) tooth fundamental to chewing (such as a molar or premolar) can be a severe hindrance to how you break down foods in order to swallow them. Another problem you can encounter without a full set of teeth is food meeting with the portion of exposed gum line and causing irritation.

Many patients who come in to see us with multiple missing tell us they avoid eating a whole host of tough and chewy foods, opting instead for soft and liquid-based nutrition. Whilst we completely understand why this becomes a reality, it can be damaging, causing:

• Jawbone shrinkage (as your teeth aren’t busy enough chewing, this has a knock-on effect on the condition of the jawbone).
• Poor nutrition – limiting the foods you eat can result in a vitamin and nutrient-deficient diet, affecting your overall wellbeing.
• A dip in mental wellbeing – one of the reasons our patients cite as being a major problem is having to be so selective about what they eat at restaurants, on special occasions, and having to explain why to friends and family.

General feelings of low self-esteem

When you don’t feel good in your skin, this can have a domino effect on other parts of your livelihood. A missing tooth can leave you feeling paranoid about how you look, and ultimately, stop you from smiling altogether.

One of the most important parts of dental implant treatment with us at Oatlands is helping you gain back that confidence, which can go a long way in improving self-worth levels, and relationships with others, both professional and personal.

Is it a serious risk to live with a missing tooth?

Whilst living with one or two missing teeth is not an immediate serious threat to your health, over time having gaps in your smile leaves you more vulnerable to periodontal disease (advanced gum disease), which is linked to cardiovascular problems and diabetes.

Missing teeth also leave you in danger of sustaining serious bone deterioration, which can start a chain reaction that leaves multiple other teeth loose and even completely dislodged.

Dental implants – Weybridge is home to your top choice of implant dentist – Oatlands!

If you’ve been persuaded by the reasons above to replace a missing tooth as soon as possible with dental implants, Weybridge-based dentist Oatlands Dental Lounge provides a comprehensive implant service.

We’re here to offer you everything from a full diagnostic picture of your current oral health and jawbone health, all the way through to implant surgery and designing and placing your brand new smile. Contact a dentist in Weybridge here at Oatlands for a missing teeth consultation – your first step to a new and full smile.