If you have lost a tooth in your adulthood, then you know how painful it is and how it impacts confidence in your smile. Whether the tooth fell out while you were eating or while you were playing kickball, having it fixed or replacing it entirely with an implant is vital to your long-term oral care.
Woodmen Dental Group offers dental implant services in-house to provide you with a quick, natural-looking replacement. Our implants provide results that are available right away in cases that are suitable for immediate-load implants, maintain proper chewing and speech function, and eliminate problems of poor appearance and loss of self-esteem.
Reasons To Replace Missing Teeth
Appearance
A great smile is a major part of your confidence and when a tooth is missing you are likely to become overly aware of its appearance and impact on your smile. Implants offer the natural look, feel, and function of a regular tooth.
Problems With Eating And Speech
Depending on the location of the tooth, it may impair your ability to chew and cause discomfort while eating. If the missing tooth is located in the front of your mouth it will impact your enunciation while speaking.
Headaches
If not replaced teeth may begin to shift causing a strain on your jaw muscles. Your jaw muscles will have to work harder to bring your bottom and top teeth together. Over time this can potentially lead to TMJ (temporomandibular joint disorder) or severe migraines.
Issues With Not Replacing A Tooth
Not replacing a tooth can have harmful long-term effects on your overall oral health. It is possible that your jawline may begin to deteriorate. The jaw bone maintains its strength and stability by the stimulation of teeth. Without the constant stimulation of a tooth, the jaw bone begins to shrink. Depending on how many teeth are missing this could impact the appearance of your face.
You may also experience super eruption and if you think you should be scared about how that sounds, let us assure you, you absolutely should be. Super eruption is when a tooth begins to grow out of place because the opposing tooth is missing and is not there to resist it.
What To Do When You Lose A Tooth
If you can save your lost tooth there might be a chance to have it re-installed. We offer same-day appointments for dental emergencies and losing a tooth is certainly not something you should wait to have treated. Once the tooth has been ejected from your mouth pick up the tooth without touching the root, rinse gently without scrubbing, and reinsert the tooth, if you are unable to reinsert then place the tooth between the cheek and jaw, milk, or water with a pinch of salt until the appointment.
Woodmen Dental Group Can Help
We understand that losing a tooth is a serious discomfort, here are some this you can do to ease the pain until you are able to make it to your appointment. Rinse your mouth very gently with warm water and a pinch of salt and apply a cold compress to the external cheek area that has been impacted. The most important thing to do is contact us as soon as possible.