The Effects of Missing Teeth
If you’re missing even a single tooth, you’ve felt the effects. You might be less ready to smile or hide your mouth when you laugh. You might be missing your favorite foods like whole apples or steak. But it doesn’t have to be this way! At Nordhus Dentistry in Wichita, KS, we offer dental implants – the very best solution for tooth loss – and we want you to know you’re not alone. Tooth loss is actually very common. Let’s explore the effects of missing teeth and how implants can help you complete your smile, boost your confidence, and protect your health.
Aesthetic Effects of Missing Teeth
Gaps in your smile can have a huge effect on your appearance, especially if the missing teeth are at the front of your smile. Left untreated, just one missing tooth can cause your surrounding teeth to shift, loosen, and eventually fall out. This can cause your jaw to shrink and your entire face to become sunken and prematurely aged.
How Do Dental Implants Help?
Dental implants support crowns, bridges, and dentures to replace the visible portion of any missing teeth. These small metal posts also extend into the jawbone, promoting a healthy, youthful look by protecting the jaw against bone loss, a natural effect of missing teeth. In fact, dental implants are the only treatment for missing teeth that can prevent jawbone degeneration. This is just one of many reasons why this option is considered the gold standard for tooth replacement.
Functional Effects of Missing Teeth
Your confidence can suffer as a result of missing teeth for more reasons than just your looks. With a compromised smile, you might have difficulty pronouncing certain words. Or, if you already have traditional dentures, your restoration might click or move around in your mouth as you’re trying to speak.
Another area that can be impacted is your diet. It can be uncomfortable or virtually impossible to eat your favorite chewy or hard foods. This also takes many healthful choices, like crunchy salads, off the menu. Because the implants are rooted in the jawbone, they offer more stability than other tooth replacement options.
Other Benefits
Though implants require surgery to place, they’re more conservative in some ways when compared to alternative treatment options. For example, traditional bridges are often used to replace a single tooth. Before your doctor can place a bridge, they’ll need to substantially modify the adjacent teeth in order to support dental crowns. Any time you can leave your healthy teeth whole and untouched, that is a plus. An implant-supported crown, in contrast, can replace a missing tooth from root to tip while leaving the remainder of your teeth unaffected.
Schedule a Dental Implant Consultation
There’s no need to live with missing teeth. We offer all stages of implant treatment at our Wichita office, from surgical placement to the restoration of a complete, durable smile. Learn how we’ve helped patients just like you during a consultation at our office. Email us with any questions or to request a consultation and get started. We look forward to meeting with you!
