Losing a tooth as a child is exciting! First, your tooth comes loose, allowing you to wiggle it around with your tongue. Then it falls out, leaving a little gap in your smile that looks charming. That night, you carefully place your tooth underneath your pillow and wait for the tooth fairy to come. Finally, you wake up in the morning to find some spare change in place of your tooth! This tooth fairy magic is a rite of passage that children look forward to. But losing teeth as an adult is a different story. Missing teeth in your adult life don’t get replaced by another tooth. Instead, you’re left with gaps in your smile that permanently affect your overall oral health.
Fortunately, at Fine Dental Care, we have a plethora of ways to restore your smile!
What Happens if You Lose an Adult Tooth?
Adult teeth are meant to last you a lifetime. So why do some people lose their permanent teeth?
Tooth loss is most often a consequence of poor oral hygiene, gum disease, or dental trauma. But no matter why you’ve lost a tooth, the consequences are still the same. If you’re missing teeth as an adult, you may experience:
Shifting teeth: After tooth loss, your remaining teeth begin to shift. Typically, they will shift towards the gap in your smile, creating misalignments that affect your ability to clean your teeth thoroughly.- Bone loss: Natural teeth stimulate your jawbone every time you bite. But after losing teeth, you lose that stimulation, causing your jawbone to deteriorate over time. A shrinking jawbone can lead to problems like jaw pain, TMD, and trouble replacing missing teeth down the line.
- Cosmetic changes: Not only do missing teeth leave you with gaps in your smile, but they also cause major changes to your face. Without sufficient bone support, your cheeks may sink inward, giving your face an older and more gaunt look. Additionally, as your jawbone shifts, you can develop excessive wrinkling around the mouth.
- Trouble chewing: Missing teeth also affect your ability to chew certain foods. Many patients are forced to change their diet after tooth loss to accommodate a weaker bite. But trouble eating can lead to malnutrition and even lower your quality of life.
Ways To Replace Missing Teeth
There are a variety of tooth replacement methods to choose from.
For a single missing tooth, patients may rely on a dental bridge. These structures replace one or more missing teeth with artificial crowns called pontics. These pontics are then bonded together to form a single unit, with dental crowns on either end.
Crowns are caps that cover the healthy teeth on either side of the gap in your smile. Using these remaining teeth for support, a dental bridge effectively restores your smile by bridging the gap in your teeth.
To replace a full arch of teeth, patients rely on dentures. These prosthetics are custom-fit to your jawbone and rest perfectly against your gums to stay secure. With a combination of bone structure and suction, dentures stay in place while you chew and function, totally restoring your smile.
However, both traditional bridges and dentures only replace the surface of your smile. These restorations don’t replace your missing tooth roots, allowing your bone to continue shrinking over time. The only way to stop bone loss in its tracks is to replace your tooth roots. Fortunately, dental implants do just that!
Replace Missing Teeth With Dental Implants
Dental implants are titanium screws that we embed in your jawbone. Once inside your bone, these implants bond with your jaw, taking the place of tooth roots while creating a stable foundation for artificial restorations.
And at Fine Dental Care in Wayne, NJ, we use mini dental implants. These titanium posts are much smaller than traditional implants, but just as secure. And thanks to their unique one-piece design, we place them in a single appointment without all the hassle!
To replace one tooth, we use an implant-supported crown. This restoration is similar to a traditional crown, but instead of covering a damaged tooth, it cements to the mini implant we place in your jaw. Additionally, we may use an implant-supported bridge to replace multiple missing teeth in a row, supported by multiple implants. Using implants eliminates the need to crown any of your natural teeth.
Finally, we offer implant-supported dentures to replace a whole arch of teeth. These dentures are anchored to your jaw, ensuring they’ll never come loose. With both removable and non-removable options, we provide our patients with a variety of choices.
Mini implants are often more affordable and less invasive for our patients, while also providing a faster healing period. After placement, these implants may be able to support a crown or bridge that very same day, and a final denture in just a few weeks!
Missing Teeth? Visit Fine Dental Care in Wayne, NJ!
Missing teeth as an adult is a lot less enticing than it is as a child. With no tooth coming to fill the gap in your smile, you need to replace your tooth with an artificial restoration. There are a variety of tooth replacement options, but none replace your tooth down to the root except for dental implants. Dental implants embed in your jawbone, keeping it healthy while restoring your smile with a crown, bridge, or denture. Book a free implant consultation with Fine Dental Care in Wayne, NJ, to learn if you’re eligible for mini implant treatment.
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for a better look at our implant denture options.
