4 Reasons You Should Replace Lost Teeth

According to the American College of Prosthodontists, approximately 120 million Americans have lost one or more teeth. If you count yourself among them, you may feel hesitant to go ahead with the effort and expense of replacing your missing teeth. However, tooth replacement can make major differences in your health and happiness.

Once you understand how tooth loss can impact your life, you won't hesitate to make that dental appointment to discuss your tooth replacement options and fill those gaps sooner rather than later. Take a look at four reasons you need to replace your lost teeth.

1. Missing Teeth Can Impair Your Digestion

Digestion begins in the mouth, not the stomach. Your teeth come together to tear, grind, and soften food while saliva assists in the breakdown process. This critical step helps the digestive organs extract nutrients from the food for more efficient use by the rest of the body. Tooth loss makes this critical stage less effective.

When you try to chew with less than a full complement of teeth, you may struggle with chronic flatulence, indigestion, and malnutrition. Larger pieces of food may even get stuck in your windpipe, a medical emergency. If you resort to soft foods, you may not make as much saliva due to the lack of chewing action.

2. Missing Teeth Can Alter Your Dental Alignment

Teeth act as natural spacers for each other. A tooth surrounded by neighboring teeth will tend to remain in its normal position in the jawbone. If you lose even a single tooth, other teeth may start to shift in your mouth. As the teeth move into new positions, they lose their alignment with their upper or lower counterparts.

Malocclusion, or dental misalignment, can have serious consequences for your mouth and health. The less-than-perfect meshing of your upper and lower teeth can cause or worsen temporomandibular joint disorder, leaving you with chronic jaw pain and stiffness. You'll also lose some of your chewing efficiency.

3. Missing Teeth Can Reduce Jawbone Density

Human bone undergoes an ongoing remodeling process, replacing old or dead bone cells with new ones to maintain the bone's strength and structure. Tooth roots help keep this remodeling process by stimulating your jawbone to keep making new bone tissue. Once you lose one or more teeth, the jawbone loses some of this ability.

Even if you replace your missing teeth with a removable denture, the lack of stimulation from tooth roots can allow your jawbone to grow smaller and weaker. These changes can change your facial shape and produce wrinkles around your mouth. The artificial roots dental implants provide can prevent this degeneration.

4. Missing Teeth Can Make You Less Successful

Some people rush to replace missing teeth because they hate the way they look, while others disregard what they consider a purely cosmetic issue. However you feel about the quality of your smile, it can make major impacts on various aspects of your personal and professional success.

Research shows that people who have lost one or more of their visible teeth make a less positive impression on others than those with a complete smile. The negative perceptions extended to dating, friendship, intelligence, trustworthiness, education level, and overall health as well as attractiveness.

Simply keeping your mouth shut won’t help. If you feel reluctant to smile because of missing teeth, you may project less confidence, cheerfulness, or friendliness. As a result, you may struggle in your personal relationships or career prospects. 

Now that you understand what can happen if you let missing teeth remain missing, turn to Rabel Family Dentistry for solutions. Our experienced team can provide you with dental implants, a permanent bridge, or dentures to restore your smile and preserve your dental well-being. Contact our dental office today.