In terms of how you look and how people react to you, missing a tooth is no fun.
It can be uncomfortable or embarrassing to have a hole in your smile.
But besides denting your appearance, losing a tooth can also harm your dental health.
This is why it’s essential to replace a missing tooth in some way; with a dental implant, a dental bridge, or partial dentures.
At My Local Dentists West Ryde, we want to help you in all ways, including saving your smile, looks, and bite.
Why It Is Important To Replace Lost Teeth
#1. Other teeth can loosen and shift. When all your teeth are in place, they help keep each other in order. If you’re missing a tooth, however, your teeth may shift into the gap, leading to changes in your bite, potential gum disease, possible tooth decay, and difficulty in replacing the missing tooth later.
#2. Your face could change. Your jawbones need stimulation to avoid atrophy. Teeth are essential to this as the force of biting and chewing travels down the root of your teeth into the bone, helping to keep the bone dense.
When you lose teeth, bone begins to weaken, and its density begins to decrease. If you are missing multiple teeth in the same area, or all the teeth on your upper or lower jaw, this degradation becomes more pronounced and can lead to the face having a hollowed-out and shortened appearance that makes you look much older.
#3. It may affect your mental health. If you’ve ever lost a tooth, you may remember how strange it feels. While this discomfort may be temporarily endurable, it can grow irritating in a very short time and missing teeth definitely affect how others judge you. Finally, a missing tooth may affect your speech patterns, which can lead to a loss in self-confidence.
#4. TMJ disorder. The muscles that help you rotate your jaw and chew attach at the temporomandibular joints or TMJ. Alterations to these muscles and interrelated systems can result in physical pain. One change that can lead to TMJ disorder is tooth loss and its lack of replacement. TMJ disorder can be diagnosed and treated by My Local Dentists West Ryde, but the best treatment is always prevention!
#5. Nutrition. Missing teeth can make it difficult to eat foods that might be difficult to chew, such as nuts, vegetables, and thick meats. Consequently, many patients with missing teeth suffer nutritional deficits.
#6. Communication. Missing teeth can also lead to alterations in speech patterns like lisps or whistles, making speech more difficult to understand.
Dental Implants at My Local Dentists West Ryde
If you are missing teeth and your jaw and gums are in good shape, you can benefit from dental implants, which are replacement teeth implanted surgically into the jawbone. With good care, dental implants can last decade or more without the need for replacement.
Dental implants are a popular choice for people who have only one or two teeth missing, but they are also an alternative to dentures if you have multiple missing teeth. As long as the gums and jaw are healthy, multiple implants can serve as a base of support for several replacement teeth.
Dental implants are generally the most expensive option in the short term, but for patients with good oral health, they are likely the best choice to avoid further tooth decay or loss. Dental implants give you the best chance of keeping your remaining healthy teeth and generally don’t require any additional treatment.
Crowns and Bridges. A full coverage crown is a restoration that protects the entire structure of a tooth. Crowns are designed and made to look and feel like natural teeth.
Dental crowns are durable and strong, and it is highly likely they will last you many years without replacement or further treatment.
Partials and Dentures
Dentures are a dental appliance to replace an entire arch of teeth (meaning all the teeth on your upper jaw or lower jaw). Partial dentures are for patients missing a few but not all, of the teeth in an arch.
While dentures and partials will restore the appearance of your smile and some of its function, they do not help prevent bone erosion caused by missing teeth. This is why, despite having a lower initial cost, dentures can cost more than dental implants do over the long run.
If you are missing teeth, or believe you are at risk of losing teeth, please don’t hesitate to talk to us about your options.
My Local Dentists West Ryde Advantage
At My Local Dentists West Ryde, our treatments and service are 100% personalised to you and your needs. Our dentists are highly motivated and accredited practitioners with graduate degrees from the University of Sydney.
Alongside our dentists, the supporting staff at My Local Dentists West Ryde are tremendously dedicated and experienced to ensure that each visit with us is as pleasant as possible.
Awesome Promotions
- FREE Dental Implant Consultation
- 10% Discount for Senior card holders
Call your West Ryde dentist on (02) 9809 7000 or visit us at Shop 20 West Ryde Marketplace 14 Anthony Road in West Ryde