If you have missing teeth, are you considering replacing them? Maybe you are, and maybe you aren’t, but it’s actually far more necessary than you might think. Some people are happy to leave gaps in their teeth, but these people leave themselves open to the risks of developing dental maladies and health problems. Leaving a gap where your tooth or teeth used to be could spell disaster for your gums and jaw… Why should you replace missing teeth, and what does this protect against?

Protection against gum disease

Leaving empty gaps where you are missing teeth not only leaves holes in your smile, but it also leaves your gums exposed. When not protected by your teeth, your gums are left vulnerable to the build-up of bacteria and food debris. When bacteria collect on your gum and nest against the gum line of your neighbouring teeth, they irritate the soft tissue. This soft tissue irritation leads to your gums potentially becoming swollen, red, and prone to bleeding. Increased sensitivity comes hand-in-hand with gum recession, where the gums begin to pull away from your neighbouring teeth. This is the onset of gum disease and it threatens the loss of more teeth, risking more gaps in your smile than those you chose to keep open. Saving your natural teeth is always far preferable to replacing or removing them, so investing in treatments such as dental implants could help ensure the prevention of gum disease and therefore lessen your chances of losing further teeth.

Protection against cavities and decay

Replacing a missing tooth or multiple missing teeth also helps protect those remaining by fighting cavities and decay. Losing a tooth, or teeth, exposes many neighbouring tooth surfaces that were otherwise covered when shoulder-to-shoulder. These unsupported teeth create hard-to-reach places when cleaning, making it difficult to brush the newly revealed side and larger surface area. This creates an opportunity for food debris to build up on these surfaces which bacteria then feast on, producing toxins as they do so. These toxins eat away your protective enamel, creating cavities and decay and the need for future dental work. Replacing missing teeth not only covers the newly exposed tooth surfaces, but it also keeps the surface area for cleaning more even. Easier to clean teeth that are protected by filling in the gaps will help to keep your mouth happy and healthy.

Retain your jaw bone’s strength

A missing tooth threatens to weaken a smaller area of your jaw, but a host of missing teeth in succession or dotted around your mouth threatens larger and more frequent areas. Each individual tooth has a root and this root feeds into the jawbone. The root tells the jaw bone that it needs to remain strong to support the tooth that is still attached, and vice versa. When you lose a tooth, the root dies and that area of jaw bone loses its reason to remain strong and sturdy. When you lose multiple teeth in a row or all in different places, more and more of your jaw bone is threatened with losing strength. You could begin to witness the ‘caved in’ effects of bone resorption, where facial structure is lost, and the soft tissue of the jaw and cheeks turns inwards and sallow. Replacing missing teeth with dental implants saves your jaw’s strength because the implants’ titanium roots fuse with the jaw bone, reinstating the symbiotic relationship between jaw and tooth again.

Replace missing teeth in Bolton

Replacing missing teeth is vital to ensuring your continued dental, gum, and jaw health. Developing these kinds of complications heightens the need for further (and otherwise avoidable) dental treatments and could hinder your suitability for tooth replacement in the future. To find out more about replacing missing teeth and dental implants in Bolton, enquire online or speak to a member of our team at Harwood Dental Practice on 01204 304568 today.