A New Year is an opportunity for new starts and for many of us, a time to embrace positive change, in an effort to grow, improve and be healthier. This may well encompass health and lifestyle changes, including your smile! If you have a missing tooth and you’ve been putting off looking into replacing it, maybe 2020 is your year? A dental implant to restore a missing tooth might just be the best investment you ever make into your dental health. After all, dental implants are known for being the most effective tooth replacement treatment out there.
What happens when you don’t replace a missing tooth?
There are a variety of complications that can arise from having a missing tooth and these complications can impact upon your daily life in a dramatic way. Firstly, a missing tooth disrupts the aesthetic of your smile, especially if it’s a tooth that makes up the “social six” AKA the teeth most visible when you smile. Not only can this cause confidence issues and even a lack of desire to smile, it makes breaking down food difficult and can impede your speech. A dental implant can reverse this, giving you back the ability to eat the things you love and eliminate changes to your speech.
Missing teeth and the overlooked issue of jawbone loss
One of the consequences associated with having a missing tooth that many people aren’t aware of, is the way it affects your jawbone. If left untreated for a number of years, a missing tooth causes your jawbone to essentially give up, as it has nothing to stimulate it. The health of your jawbone is in part, down to your teeth making continuous, miniscule connections with one another, which in turn allows it to flex its muscles – literally! When a tooth is absent, the this can no longer happen, leading to a problem known as resorption defined by the jaw shrinking and becoming weaker. In severe cases of tooth loss where problems have gone untreated for years, jawbone resorption can lead to changes in your facial aesthetic which can be very emotionally stressful. As the jawbone shrinks and eventually disappears, your chin is brought closer to your nose resulting in the look of a protruding chin. For many people, this make them look older than their years because of the onset of wrinkles and sagging skin. Unfortunately dentures can’t solve this problem because unlike dental implants, they’re not a permanent and fixed treatment. As dental implants fuse with your jawbone, they ensure the health of your jawbone, which is invaluable.
If you would like more information about dental implants at Corner House Dental, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we can arrange a consultation appointment for you, it really can make a difference to your appearance.