When there is a gap in our smile, we feel very self-conscious and sometimes distressed about the appearance of a missing tooth. Additionally, patients report difficulty speaking or chewing food which affects their basic well-being.
There are a few reasons for tooth loss in adults and these range from injury, poor oral health, gum disease and others.
The good news is that daily oral hygiene practice (brushing, flossing and if indicated between teeth brushing) as well as biannual dental office visits for hygiene and checkups certainly do help maintain your teeth in healthy order.
Why is it important to try and keep all of our adult teeth?
A full set of teeth ensures that the proper alignment of teeth is maintained. This is significant and affects the way the jaws come together and teeth touch (or occlusion). In the situation of a missing tooth or teeth, a misaligned occlusion often results in food that is not chewed properly. Remember when your grandmother told you to chew your food at least 20 times? Well, she was onto something. Effective chewing is the first step to better digestion. From the dental perspective, having well aligned teeth makes chewing much more efficient. It is very important to have well chewed food pieces leaving the mouth and moving down to the next part of the digestive system. Most people are unaware but if food is not broken down well enough by mechanical means of chewing and chemical means of digestive enzymes/stomach acid; it can result in small particles of undigested food sneaking through the tight gap junctions of the intestinal wall and into the blood stream. When this inappropriate pathway is taken, the immune system’s response can lead to the development of inflammation and allergies. The bottom-line message is: it’s always best to keep your own teeth for efficient chewing and happy digestion.
