Losing a tooth is an upsetting and disruptive event for many patients. The good news is that it doesn’t have to stay that way forever—there are treatment solutions available to help you get back on track and regain oral health. In today’s article, our Elmhurst dental implant dentists are talking about the ways that tooth loss can affect your smile. Let’s get started!
Dental Alignment
You may start to notice that teeth that were previously straight and even are now crooked or slanted. After tooth loss, you may also develop small gaps between your teeth. All of your individual teeth help to keep their adjacent teeth in place. When a tooth is lost, the resultant hole becomes a void into which teeth shift.
Jawbone
Remember that every tooth is comprised of the visible tooth crown as well as the tooth root, which extends into the patient’s jawbone. When a tooth is lost, it creates a blank space under your gumline. Unfortunately, this can become a prime area of vulnerability—your jawbone density may degrade, and infected dental material can progress and spread.
Additional Tooth Loss
As your smile becomes less and less stable, it only becomes more likely that you will experience additional tooth loss down the road. In order to minimize your risk of additional damage, it is crucial that you seek restorative treatment to bolster your jawbone and gum tissue health. You also want to ensure that you have healthy dental alignment, and that you’re not putting unnecessary pressure on certain vulnerable teeth.
As always, our Elmhurst dentists are here to help you achieve the healthy and attractive smile that you deserve. The best way to get started is to give our office a call or to use the Contact Us page on our website. We look forward to working with you!