What Happens If You Don’t Replace Missing Teeth?

 

If you’re missing a single tooth, especially if the missing tooth isn’t directly in the front of your mouth, it may not bother you. After all, you can still eat comfortably, and you might even think the gap in your teeth looks kind of cool. Regardless of your ideas about the appearance of your missing tooth, however, it’s important to know that there’s way more at stake than the appearance of your smile when you’re missing teeth, even when it’s only one tooth. If you want to know what happens if you don’t replace a missing tooth, it’s best not to learn this from experience; effects on the oral health can be costly, time-consuming, and expensive to repair, and effects on overall health and general well-being can’t be overlooked either.

 

So, what exactly could happen if you don’t replace your missing teeth? Some of the more common repercussions are:

 

  1. Bone loss in the jaw
  2. Every time we bite or chew something, the roots of our teeth stimulate and exercise the jawbone that supports them, keeping this bone tissue strong and vital. When a tooth root is missing from the jaw, there’s no way to exercise the bone and surrounding muscle, and the tissues begin to deteriorate. Bone tissue is reabsorbed into the body so it can be of use elsewhere in the body, and the facial muscles grow slack as they atrophy from lack of use. The more teeth that are missing, the more visible this becomes. This has aesthetic effects, clearly, but it also means that the longer you wait to replace a missing tooth, the harder it will become. Dental replacements that rely on implants will require more extensive preparatory procedures, like bone grafts, and prosthetics that rely on the jaw for support, like dentures, will require far more frequent fit adjustments to maintain their comfort and efficacy.
  3. Misaligned teeth
  4. When a tooth is missing, the surrounding teeth slowly migrate to occupy the empty space where the tooth once was. Gradually, the teeth fall out of alignment, possibly becoming crowded and almost always leading to a visibly asymmetrical smile. This could require extensive orthodontic treatment to repair, which is bound to be more costly and more time-consuming than the dental restorations that would prevent such migration from happening in the first place. Misaligned teeth are also more difficult to clean properly, increasing the likelihood of tooth decay and gum disease and encouraging continued tooth loss.
  5. Damage to the rest of the teeth
  6. Migrating teeth don’t just affect the appearance of the teeth. The tooth roots are also weakened as teeth loosen, facing competing external and internal pressures, and the health and strength of the teeth diminish. These misalignments also often affect the bite, which can cause disproportionate wear on some teeth and weaken the teeth overall.
  7. Headaches and other facial pain
  8. When we compensate for missing teeth by favoring a certain area or side of the mouth, we place uneven strain on some of the facial muscles while neglecting others. This can lead to headaches, jaw pain, and pain that radiates out from the jaw, into the neck or ear area. These headaches and facial pains are common indicators of TMJ disorders, which can also arise when bite alignment is compromised.
  9. Declining overall health
  10. While it might not be that difficult to eat a wide variety of foods if you’re missing a single tooth, the difficulty of eating with multiple missing teeth isn’t up for debate. Replacing missing teeth can help people resume or adopt a healthy, balanced diet, which in turn supports the overall health as well as the oral health.

 

As you can see, the results of not replacing missing teeth can trigger a domino effect of uncomfortable, dangerous, unattractive, and potentially painful side effects. In light of the wide range of dental prosthetics currently available, there’s little to no reason not to replace your missing tooth or teeth, and so many valid, important reasons to do so. Contact your dentist to learn more, and don’t delay; with each day, your risks of further, more expensive, and complex damage will only increase.

 

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