6 Reasons to Replace Missing Teeth

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6 Reasons to Replace Missing Teeth

Missing teeth can have a significant impact on your oral health, your appearance, and your quality of life. Whether you lost a tooth to decay, injury, or aging, replacing it is key to maintaining your oral health. 

Luckily, there are many durable and natural-looking tooth replacement options, such as dentures, dental bridges, and dental implants. Here’s why it’s so important to replace a missing tooth. 

Six Reasons Why You Should Replace Missing Teeth

1: To Restore Your Ability to Chew

Missing teeth can make it difficult to chew your food properly, which can cause digestive issues and even malnutrition. Just one missing tooth can affect the way you bite and chew. Replacing missing teeth will restore your mouth to full function, so you can enjoy a nutritious diet (and all your favorite foods). 

2: To Improve Your Speech

Missing teeth can also affect the way you speak. Because air moves through your mouth differently, you might end up slurring or mumbling your words. Your other teeth can also shift into the gaps, which can lead to speech impediments. Replacing missing teeth will improve your pronunciation and enunciation so you can communicate more effectively. 

3: To Prevent Bone Loss

One of the long-term effects of missing teeth is bone loss. Without a tooth root to stimulate the jaw bone, your body assumes you no longer need the bone. This triggers a process called resorption where the bone tissue is redistributed elsewhere in your body. 

Resorption can cause your facial structure to change, giving it a sunken-in appearance and making you look older. Replacing missing teeth with dental implants prevents bone loss, because the implant post mimics a tooth root. 

4: To Maintain a Proper Bite

If you don’t replace a missing tooth, the remaining teeth may shift out of place to fill the gap. This can cause misalignments and bite problems. Misaligned teeth can make brushing and flossing less effective, increasing the risk of gum disease and tooth decay

5: To Improve Your Smile

Missing even a single tooth can make you self-conscious about your smile, causing you to cover your mouth or avoid social situations. Restoring your smile with natural-looking dentures, bridges, or implants, can improve your appearance and overall quality of life. 

6: To Prevent Further Dental Issues

The gap left by missing teeth exposes the surfaces of the surrounding teeth to more plaque buildup. This increases your risk of further dental issues, such as tooth decay, gum disease, and infections. 

Replacing Missing Teeth in Sun Lakes, Arizona

If you’re ready to replace your missing teeth, contact Dr. Saba and Associates. We offer high quality dentures and dental bridges, and can refer you to an experienced oral surgeon for dental implants. Give us a call at 480-895-2111 today to schedule an appointment.  

 

Images used under creative commons license – commercial use (4/12/2023). Photo by Italo Melo on Pexels