Grand Rapids Dental Implants - Best Choice Dental Implant Center - Dr. Timothy Moore

TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR REPLACING MISSING TEETH

Missing teeth can have serious consequences...both physically, emotionally, socially and even financially.  The loss of a single back tooth may not have much impact on your life, but the loss or a single front tooth  may have a serious negative impact.

As more teeth are lost due to decay, gum disease or trauma, the problems start to compound, and the negative impact on your life becomes more profound.

Missing teeth may have the following consequences:
  1.  As more teeth are lost, chewing function and efficiency decreases.
  2.  As chewing function decrease, you will be forced to change your diet to softer less nutritious foods.
  3.  Choosing less nutritious foods will lead to weight gain.
  4.  A less nutritious diet will have a negative impact on your overall health and physical well-being.
  3.  The teeth next to the missing tooth will shift toward the empty space.  This will create spaces, and
       food traps which can contribute to decay and gum disease.
  4.  Loss of back teeth may lead to overloading of the the jaw joint (TMJ) which in turn leads to joint
       pain, muscle pain and headaches.
  5.  Loss of back teeth will put more pressure on the front teeth causing them to drift forward and apart
  6.  Loss of back teeth will put more pressure on the remaining teeth, which may contribute to
       breaking and cracking of teeth, fillings and porcelain restorations.
  7.  As more back teeth are lost, the facial dimension from the chin to the nose starts to decrease.  This 
       causes the lips to thin out, the corners of the mouth to turn down, and the chin to move forward.
       Prosthodontists call this being "overclosed".
  8.  As the front teeth drift apart, or are lost, people become embarrassed about their appearance. 
       They may stop smiling, or cover their mouth when speaking to others.
  9.  Like it or not, others also judge us on the appearance of our smile.  This may have serious negative
       consequences in social and/or business settings.

There are  several options for replacing missing teeth, and many versions of each.  Teeth can be replaced withremovable partial dentures,  removable complete dentures,  removable overdentures, fixed bridgework or with dental implant supported crowns, bridges or dentures.