6 Problems Missing Teeth Cause

Having missing teeth can affect your everyday life in different ways, as well as your health and well-being. You may lose one or more teeth from tooth decay, gum disease, injuries and other causes. Learning more about the issues that missing teeth can cause can help you understand how important it is to seek solutions, such as replacing them with dental implants in Mesa.

Aged Appearance

Your teeth provide support for the part of your face that surrounds your mouth. When you have one or more missing teeth, this can cause skin in that part of your face to sag. Having skin that sags can cause you to look older than your age, which can have a negative impact on your self-confidence or make you feel more self-conscious about the way you look.

Eating Problems

Missing teeth can make it difficult to eat, especially certain foods. If you have teeth missing in the front of your mouth, you might have trouble biting into foods. If you have teeth missing in the back of your mouth, you might have difficulty chewing foods. This might affect your ability to eat your favorite foods or cause you to avoid foods that are healthy for you yet difficult to bite into or chew, such as apples. Leaving these nutritious foods out of your diet could end up having an impact on your health, such as developing a vitamin deficiency.

Speaking Problems

Having missing teeth can affect the way you speak. Depending on how many teeth are missing and where they’re located, you might have trouble speaking clearly overall or pronouncing certain words. This can cause you to become highly self-conscious about talking to other people in your daily life and could impact your job if it involves speaking to people frequently, such as in customer service.

Teeth Shifting

Missing teeth don’t just result in empty spaces or gaps in your mouth. The teeth next to these gaps tend to move or shift in order to try and fill in these spaces. This shifting can cause these teeth to rotate, which can lead to discomfort or pain in your jaw. Shifting teeth can also affect your appearance if they’re in the front or more visible part of your mouth.

Bone Loss

Bone loss can occur when you lose one or more teeth. New bone cells normally form as you put force on your teeth while chewing. When you have missing teeth, no new bone cells form in that area, resulting in bone loss. The amount of bone loss you’re at risk of depends on the number of teeth you have missing and where these teeth are located, such as next to each other. The bigger gaps you have in your mouth due to multiple missing teeth, the greater amount of bone loss you’re at risk of having. Keep in mind that losing bone can cause your other teeth to become weaker over time, which increases your risk of additional tooth loss. Replacing your missing teeth can reduce bone loss in your jaw.

Self-Confidence Issues

Having missing teeth can have a serious impact on your self-confidence. If these missing teeth were in the front of your mouth, you have a higher likelihood of feeling much more self-conscious about your appearance and losing more confidence. You might limit interacting with other people, since you might be self-conscious about smiling in front of them or talking to them in case they notice your missing teeth. This can affect your personal relationships, as well as other areas of your life, such as your job or school performance.

Conclusion

With all of the potential problems that missing teeth can cause, it’s important to explore your options for replacing them. Although there are different options available, such as bridges or dentures, dental implants provide the most effective way to replace missing teeth. Dental implants involve placing titanium posts in your jaw, then attaching connector pieces. These connector pieces hold artificial or replacement teeth in place. Dental implants offer a way to replace missing teeth with artificial ones that closely resemble your natural teeth.

If want to replace your missing teeth, please contact Dental Brothers for an appointment. Our dentists in Mesa and Phoenix can help you find the right solutions for you.