What happen when you have missing teeth?

Our body works as a system, so if something is missing other parts of the body will have to work harder to compensate for the loss of that. In Smileway Dental Clinic USJ we would like to address some of the issues. So when you have multiple missing teeth, many things actually happens to your teeth and the way you bite, your Jaw, Temporal mandibular Joint (TMJ), and also to your overall health.

• Changes in your teeth and the way you bite

1. 1. 1. Even if you have a single or multiple teeth missing, the way you chew your food will eventually change. Because our teeth works together with other teeth in chewing and forces are distributed to each other. So when you have a missing tooth, other teeth will start to drift to the missing tooth area, especially the adjacent teeth. Other teeth needs to work harder in chewing the food, this will cause your other teeth to deteriorate faster, eventually may cause cracks and further damage, and if not treated you may end up extracting the tooth. Calculus is easy to build up and cause your teeth to be more susceptible to cavities. With drifting of your teeth will cause sensitivity in the future. Remember our teeth moves all the time and if not replaced it will cause future problems.

• Changes in your jaw

1. 1. 1. When a tooth extraction is done, one major severe complication happens. The bone that was previously holding the tooth will start to shrink in size. Meaning the size of the bone around that area will start to reduce in depth and diameter. In average you will lose around 50% of the bone size in 1 year if the tooth is not replaced. If you have multiple teeth missing the jaw bone will start to shrink and eventually it will be very difficult to place teeth at the area. This will cause the next problem call temporal mandibular Joint disorder.

• Changes in your Temporal Mandibular Joint

1. 1. 1. If you have multiple missing teeth it will change the way you bite. The joint that is located in front of your both ears makes the lower jaw moves when you bite. So with multiple missing teeth and continuously chewing, in the future the joints might be displaced and can cause clicking when opening your mouth. If severe you might can have those joints permanently displaced and cause pain on the joints. Treatment on this is rather complicated and difficult.

• Changes in your overall health

1. 1. With all the complications above, changing the way you bite, your jaw and also if severe the temporal mandibular joint can cause serious impact on our health. Our 1st digestive system starts form our mouth. If our mouth does not chew the right way and grind the food properly, our stomach and other internal organs will have to work more to absorb nutrients from the food. That is why people who do not have any teeth will have a higher chance of malnutrition. Their facial expression is also changed as their jaw will shrink.

All these complications can be avoided if we are able to take control of our well-being and health. Try not to neglect on your dental health as in the long term it can affect your health. As we always say prevention is always better than cure. If you have a missing tooth or even multiple missing teeth, it is time for you to take control of it and replace those missing teeth to avoid more complications from happening. Visit your dentist or give SmileWay Dental Clinic USJ a call so that we can advise what are the ways to replace those missing teeth.