Should You Replace A Missing Tooth?

Losing a permanent tooth can feel like an embarrassing event. Afterwards, it can be difficult to muster the motivation to restore your smile because a missing tooth may not have a big impact on your smile or your dental health initially. However, as many of our patients discover, there are always delayed effects of missing teeth, including on your overall health and self-esteem.

Why Replace a Missing Tooth Right Away

1. Keep The Rest of Your Teeth Healthy

Teeth work together, with each tooth performing a specific function. Your front teeth are used for tearing off chunks of solid food, while the back teeth are used for mashing food into digestible pieces. When even one tooth is missing for any amount of time, the others have to pick up the slack. Patients with missing teeth will unconsciously favor one part of the mouth, putting uneven stress on their teeth and prematurely wearing them down. Combine this with the fact that fewer teeth in the mouth give the other teeth more room to spread out, so that a missing tooth can slowly snowball into several more.

2. Keep Your Confidence

Missing teeth cause noticeable cosmetic changes that negatively affect a patient’s self-esteem. Visible flaws in a person’s smile can become long-term sore spots in their life, leading to confidence issues and a diminishing quality of life. Here are some of the areas that missing teeth can affect:

• Speech: The front teeth, especially, are integral to many of the sounds we make, particularly f- and th-. Speech impediments can be very embarrassing to deal with, particularly when one’s job involves public speaking, one-on-one meetings with customers, or coworkers, or frequent interactions over the phone. A lack of confidence in speech, as well as difficulty being understood, makes it very difficult to advance in a career.
• Structure: The jaw needs a lot of stimulation from the teeth. Missing teeth reduce the pressure and stimulation required to maintain its structure. Given enough time without replacement teeth, the jaw begins to shrink, and gums start to recede. A shrinking jawline leads to sunken cheeks and premature signs of aging.
• Smile: Combine all the above issues: drifting teeth, shrinking jaw, premature aging, and gaps between teeth, and most patients will find themselves smiling less often. Everyone deserves to have a confident smile, but that can be difficult to accomplish when missing teeth cause so many problems.

Tooth Replacement Just Makes Sense

In the long run, restorative dentistry can be life changing. Replacing a missing tooth helps to keep the mouth and jaw healthy and allows you to feel youthful and speak confidently. If you have any gaps you’d like to mend, be sure to give Freedom Dental of West Chester a call to schedule your consultation. Our office is located in West Chester, OH, and we are happy to help you restore your smile!