The Effects of Missing Teeth
Your teeth have many important responsibilities. To ensure that they remain strong and healthy, it is essential to take good care of them. Caring for your teeth involves a regimen of regular daily brushing and flossing as well as twice-yearly dental cleanings and exams. When oral care is ignored, you can quickly find yourself with serious oral health conditions such as tooth decay and gum disease.
When these issues go untreated, they can lead to tooth loss. In some cases, you may take excellent care of your mouth, but you may be faced with the facial trauma that leaves you with severely damaged teeth. If the teeth cannot be saved, they need to be extracted. Tooth loss, no matter how it occurs, has several effects—but Edelweiss Dental Implant Center is here to help.
Negative Effects on Eating
The teeth are responsible for biting and chewing, which is also the first stage of digestion. Without your teeth, it becomes more difficult to thoroughly chew your food. This can make eating some of your most favorite foods extremely difficult, if not impossible. The more teeth you lose, the more limited your diet becomes. Moreover, when you cannot thoroughly chew your food, it becomes harder for the body to access valuable nutrients. This can lead to malnutrition, despite maintaining a healthy diet.
Speech Complications
The teeth control the flow of air when you speak, enabling you to form a wide array of different words and sounds. Tooth loss allows the air to flow freely. You may develop a lisp or have more difficulty with different words. Not only do you have trouble effectively forming words, but others also have a harder time understanding you. This can lead to frustrating situations in which you find that you have to repeat yourself several times to be understood.
The Hidden Effect of Tooth Loss
Tooth loss also has a significant impact on your jaw health, although this effect is not immediately apparent. The teeth provide stimulation for the jawbone, which then sends a message to the body to send nutrients. Missing teeth means the stimulation is lessened, and the message grows weaker. Fewer nutrients are sent, and the jaw begins to resorb and grow weak. Healthy teeth remaining begin to shift out of natural alignment. If you lose a significant number of teeth, you may also find that your facial appearance is altered as your lips and cheeks sink in, skin sags, and wrinkles form.
Before & After
