Having a missing tooth is common and can lead to problems in your daily activities. In addition, it can compromise your lifestyle and oral health. However, it is not a dead-end predicament since there are ways to fix this. And tooth replacement is one of the best solutions for this.
Replacement Options
Here are a few things that you can consider to resolve a missing tooth:
1. Dental Implants: It is advisable for missing a single tooth or multiple ones in different areas. And the advantage of this is that it looks natural. In addition, it blends well with your remaining teeth since it doesn’t use any bridges.
2. Dental Bridge: This is almost similar to dental implants. A dental bridge is also advisable to replace a single tooth, while it works in a way that it bridges the gap from the missing tooth via a dental prosthetic.
3. Full and Partial Dentures: These are a removable set of teeth attached to a base that matches the colour of your gums. Complete dentures work for replacing all of your teeth, while a partial denture works for a single tooth.
Issues That May Occur Due to Missing Tooth
You can say that a missing tooth is not a big deal. However, it can lead to difficulties more than you can imagine.
Chewing and Speech Issue
A missing tooth can cause you to enjoy your meals less, as it makes chewing difficult, especially with hard food. You can still eat a bowl of mashed potatoes, but why suffer if there is a solution for you to enjoy another slice of crispy bacon?
Also, your teeth are an essential factor in producing speech and sound.Hence, even with one tooth missing, it can affect your way of speaking. Moreover, your diction and pronunciation will be significantly affected, leading to misunderstandings.
Difficulty in speech due to a missing tooth can also affect your social interaction, especially your efficiency with your job. It is also true for aiming for success in a job interview.
Dental Shifting and Bone Loss
A set of teeth’s design is to support each other. Therefore, one missing tooth can lead the other adjacent ones to move irregularly into the gap that was left behind.
In addition, the force in your teeth when chewing serves as an exercise for your jaw bone. It helps with its growth, and if a tooth is missing, it causes bone loss.
Other Health issues
Teeth loss can also cause unhealthy gums because the space or pocket in your gums left by the missing tooth is now accessible to other bacteria. In addition, having gum disease can lead to more severe health issues such as cancer.
Mental Health and Self-Esteem
A missing tooth can cause low self-esteem, making you withdrawn and less confident to interact. And your smile is one of the essential factors that is affected. Losing your smile is an overall big deal as part of your identity. Moreover, in some cases, it also leads to social awkwardness and then depression.
Getting Your Confidence Back
Tooth replacement is a small price to pay to get that smile back on your face. It is also a great way of getting back on track with your daily activities. So what are a few expenses if it means having confidence and avoiding social and emotional withdrawal?
