Popular Science | What are the dangers of not promptly repairing missing teeth?

Many people think that missing teeth are not a big deal, but they don’t know that missing teeth may not affect their lives in the short term, but long-term missing teeth can cause harm to our oral and physical health.

01 Affects facial beauty

The impact of missing teeth on aesthetics is the most obvious. It will cause the patient's lips to sink, which has a great impact on the overall appearance of the person and will give people a feeling of oldness.

02 Affects pronunciation

Missing teeth, especially front teeth, can cause unclear pronunciation, commonly known as "talking with a leak". Unclear pronunciation can have a significant impact on the patient's social activities and even affect the patient's mental health.

03 Affects the alignment of all teeth

If a missing tooth is not repaired for a long time, the adjacent teeth will gradually become tilted and loose due to the loss of support and restraint, causing bite function disorder.

04 Affects overall health

After tooth loss, the remaining teeth will undergo a series of changes, which will also change the originally good occlusion relationship. Since the effective functional area between the remaining teeth is reduced accordingly, the chewing efficiency is reduced, which in turn affects the absorption of nutrients in food, increases the gastrointestinal burden, and thus affects the health of the whole body.

05 Joint Injury

After missing teeth, the chewing function of the missing tooth side is reduced, and the patient may develop the habit of chewing only on the other side. In addition, if there are a large number of missing teeth or the missing time is long, the remaining teeth will be tilted and elongated, causing occlusal interference and disordered occlusion. These will affect the stability of the temporomandibular joint and cause joint damage.

06 Alveolar bone atrophy

After tooth loss, the normal occlusal force no longer provides physiological stimulation to the alveolar bone, and the alveolar bone will atrophy to varying degrees due to disuse, which will bring great difficulties to the subsequent restoration and maintenance of the balance and stability of the oral and maxillofacial region.

07 Food impaction

Normal teeth are arranged very closely. When a tooth is lost, the adjacent teeth will gradually tilt towards the missing part, and the gaps between other teeth will gradually become larger. This will make it easy for food to get stuck in the gaps between teeth and cause bad breath, tooth decay, periodontal disease, etc.

08 Tooth loss

Because the teeth on the left and right sides of the missing tooth lose their original supporting force, they will gradually become tilted and loose, and finally even develop into tooth loss.

09 Causes other problems

Due to the decline in chewing function, it is difficult to chew food thoroughly when eating. Food enters the digestive system in large chunks, making it difficult to digest, which in turn leads to gastrointestinal problems, directly affecting the health level of the body and even life expectancy.

10 Misaligned growth of permanent teeth

If the deciduous teeth of children in the tooth replacement period fall out prematurely, a tooth space maintainer needs to be installed in the missing tooth position. Otherwise, the original missing tooth position may be squeezed by the adjacent teeth, and the space will be reduced, resulting in insufficient space when the permanent teeth erupt and the permanent teeth will grow misplaced.

There are currently three ways to repair missing teeth: removable dentures, fixed dentures, and implants. It is recommended that you seek medical attention in a timely manner to choose a suitable method to repair your missing teeth as soon as possible.