Your smile is one of the unique things about you and to maintain this, you need to maintain proper oral hygiene and habits. Not caring for your teeth properly can cause tooth loss due to gum disease and tooth decay. Also, you can lose your tooth as a result of age related conditions and injuries.
There are many consequences of tooth loss.
When you visit SD dental you can learn more about the treatment options available to you to counter tooth loss. There are dentures, implants etc. and the dentist will explain the pros and cons to you so that you have a better idea of what is suitable for your situation. When you have tooth loss, it can lead to thinning of gums in the areas where you have missing teeth. When you lose a tooth, the gum tissue surrounding the teeth will start to recede. They generally provide support to the teeth but this is what happens in the absence of teeth. When the gums start to thin, it will create a soft spot where the missing tooth used to be and this is an area that food particles can get stuck in. And due to accumulation of bacteria and inflammation, you will face an increased risk for gum disease. There will be more sensitivity in this area and you will experience discomfort when you are eating.
Tooth loss is quite common
When you age and smoothing that you will experience alongside with this is a decreased control of the jaw. Teeth are vital in supporting the jawbone and supporting the proper alignment of the jawbone. So when you lose teeth, the structure and density of the jawbone can deteriorate and this will lead to the jaw moving out of proper alignment. This will affect your appearance and it will also impact oral function. You will experience discomfort with speaking and chewing when this happens. When there is advanced bone loss, there is an increased risk of mandibular fracture. This is because the jawbone undergoes bone resorption where it will lose its density and volume when teeth are missing. And this will progress causing the jaw to weaken which will make it more prone to fractures.
Your facial aesthetics can change significantly with tooth loss.
For one thing, your face will lose some of its height. This happens because the lower part of the face shrinks. When the jawbone structure is not supported by teeth, it will weaken. And this is why you see many aged individuals with a sunken appearance. And what this does is that it makes you look older than you actually are and you will also experience some difficulties when it comes to chewing and speaking. Because of these consequences, you need to understand that tooth loss affects so many aspects of your wellbeing. And you need to understand the significance of this so that you can seek preventative oral care early on. There are many solutions to restore oral function and your smile when you lose teeth and these options can be discussed in depth with your dentist.
