Announcement
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Posted on 3/15/2020 by Sean Saghatchi |
![]() Harvard Medical School notes that by the time you turn 50 the average American adult has lost at least 12 permanent teeth. What you do about this missing tooth can depend on many factors, some of which are related to what tooth you have lost. Whether you have to replace the missing tooth in some fashion depends on you, but there are consequences to not replacing your tooth. What Can Happen if I Don't Replace My Tooth?The most obvious problem with not replacing the tooth is that you may have trouble chewing certain foods. This would depend on which tooth is lost, but molars do all the hard work of chewing. When you lose a tooth, the surrounding teeth tend to shift to make up for the missing tooth. This can cause your other teeth to be crooked or create new gaps in the existing teeth. Another problem that could arise is called super-eruption. This affects the tooth that opposes the one that is missing. In other words, if you lose a tooth on the top, the tooth it used to work with on the bottom will be affected. It could grow out from its normal position because the opposing tooth is no longer there to keep it in its place. When you are missing a tooth, it affects your bite or occlusion. Occlusion is the relationship that a tooth and its opposing partner have on each other. If your teeth don't meet properly, it affects the way you mash up your food which in turn affects your digestion. If you are missing a tooth come to see us. We can discuss your options and then decide how you want to proceed. |