The prospect of losing a tooth is daunting. If you’ve already lost one, you know that it affects more than just your smile. Your health suffers, you have a hard time chewing, your speech sounds off, and you feel embarrassed to smile. If you’ve been missing teeth for some time, you may have noticed a change in your facial structure. This is because there is no tooth root to stimulate your jawbone, which causes it to recede.
You don’t have to worry over missing teeth anymore. Use this as a guide to discover what can cause your teeth to fall out, how to prevent further loss, and how to regain a functional, healthy, and beautiful smile.
Causes of Tooth Loss
Gum disease, injury, and tooth decay are the causes of tooth loss. But what kind of activities can cause those three situations?
Smoking Cigarettes & Chewing Tabacco: These two habits are primary culprits of gum disease. They restrict blood flow to your gums, decrease saliva production, and impede your body’s ability to replace tissue in your mouth. This is a perfect environment for bacteria to flourish. First, it’ll infect your gums. Next, the bacteria will enter your bone, rot your tooth, and cause it to fall out. Beyond tooth loss, the bacteria will enter your bloodstream and is known to increase your risk of dementia, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease.
Poor Oral Health Routines: Simply failing to take care of your teeth, gums, and mouth can cause gum disease, tooth decay, and loss.
Diabetes: Diabetes and gum disease are reciprocating diseases that can cause tooth loss.
Consuming Too Much Sugar: When left on your teeth, Sugar interacts with the plaque and produces acid. Acid wears down your enamel causing pain, decay, and eventual tooth loss.
Medications: Some medications, such as high blood pressure and antidepressants, can cause tooth loss.
Contact Sports Without a Mouthguard: If you play a contact sport, be sure to wear a mouthguard, or you could lose some teeth.
Car Accidents: Car accidents can cause you to lose teeth if you injure your mouth.
Replace Your Missing Teeth and Prevent Further Damage
Good news: You can replace your missing or damaged beyond repair teeth at Smile On Dental Studio. And we can teach to how to take care of your new and existing teeth to prevent further damage.
Tooth Replacement Options
Dental Implant: Dental implants are the best tooth-replacement option on the market, and they’re versatile to fit your needs. Regardless of how many teeth you need replaced, dental implants can help. They’re titanium posts surgically inserted into your jaw that hold a crown.
Dental Bridge: If you’re missing multiple teeth near each other, we can replace them with a bridge. These can be secured with implants or crowns on existing teeth. They “bridge the gap” and give you a full smile.
Implant Dentures: Do you need an entire arch of teeth or a whole mouth of teeth replaced? We can replace them with implant dentures. They’re dentures but secured to your mouth with dental implants.
Dentures: We offer FOY® and traditional dentures as well.
Dental Crowns: If your tooth is damaged, but we can save it, we’ll clear the decay or damage and then place a crown over it for protection.
Dental Veneers: In some cases, your tooth damage could be a small chip. We don’t need to remove it or place a crown over it. We can use dental veneers to give your teeth a brand new face.
Preventing Further Damage
The key to getting new teeth or fixing your damaged teeth is to prevent further damage by taking care of your teeth, gums, and mouth. Be sure to brush your teeth twice a day, floss, use mouthwash, and visit your dentist twice per year.
If you follow these rules for good oral hygiene, you won’t have to deal with tooth decay, gum disease, and tooth loss.
Replace Your Missing Teeth in St. Louis
If you want to replace your missing teeth, head to Smile On Dental Studio. Dr. Chris Hill is a restorative and cosmetic dentist who can give you beautiful, functional teeth and a healthy mouth. Call (314) 678-7876 or make an appointment online today.
