Three Reasons To Replace A Missing Tooth

You don’t know exactly how it happened. One minute you were jumping out of your seat to celebrate your favorite team’s latest come-from-behind victory. The next minute you were holding your mouth and looking for your missing tooth.

After you find your tooth, this would be a great time to call First Dental Associates to ask about our restorative dentistry. If you live in or near Reading, MA, our dentist, Dr. Nasrin Sadeghi, has the experience and the expertise to get your smile back on track.

To make an appointment, call [phone] or contact us online.

First Things First

Before we discuss some reasons you should replace your missing tooth, we want to you to know what to do if one of your teeth gets knocked out (like in our example above).

First, find the tooth if you can. Pick it up by the crown and rinse the tooth.

You also should rinse your mouth to remove any blood. If the bleeding continues, you can use gauze to apply pressure until the bleeding stops. (Change gauze as needed.)

When the bleeding has stopped, try to place the tooth back in its socket. If it will stay there, leave it. If it won’t, put the tooth in a container of milk. In some cases, it may be possible to save the tooth.

Now, for those times when the tooth is lost or can’t be saved, here are three reasons you should replace it.

► 1. Fill The Gap In Your Smile

This is the simplest reason of all. Your smile does not look the same when you are missing a tooth.

Some people will try to live without a tooth, but eventually, most people start to feel uncomfortable with the looks they get when they smile or talk. In time, this can affect your self-confidence, too, and that can affect you in your personal and your professional life.

Everyone at First Dental Associates wants you to feel good about your smile. Replacing your missing tooth can help you feel comfortable whether you are talking with a potential customer or client or you are out on a date.

A dental implant can replace the root of your missing tooth and support a dental crown. The crown will fill the gap in your smile and look just like the rest of your natural teeth.

When we are finished, most people won’t any idea that one of your teeth isn’t real.

► 2. Protect The Rest Of Your Teeth

Losing a tooth can affect your mouth in couple ways.

When you lose a tooth, nearby teeth can “drift” into the empty space. You don’t notice it, but your teeth can and do move in small ways. When you have all your teeth, they provide a support system for one another, which is why you don’t notice any changes in their positions.

When you remove one of those teeth, however, other teeth lose that mutual support. As a result, they can start moving slowly, which can further change the appearance of your smile.

Below the gumline, something else may be happening. Your jaw could be shrinking.

The roots of your teeth help to keep your jaw healthy. When you bite and chew, the roots push into your jawbone. This causes the jaw to create new bone tissue to replace older tissue.

When you lose a tooth, that part of your jaw stops getting the signal to make more tissue. You can lose as much as 25 percent of the bone density in that part of your jaw within 12 months of losing a tooth.

Between the drifting and your slowly shrinking jaw, it may not take long for a single lost tooth to cause more teeth to fall out.

► 3. Keep Eating The Foods You Love

Eating delicious food is something most people enjoy. The problem is losing a tooth can affect what you can eat.

A missing tooth can make it difficult to bite into some foods. A lost tooth also can make it harder to chew up certain foods.

We don’t want you to give up eating any foods that you enjoy. By replacing your missing tooth, you won’t have to.

Restorative Care You Can Count On

No matter the reason you are missing a tooth, we encourage you to call Dr. Sadeghi to schedule a consultation.

Before opening her own practice, she worked alongside some of the top dentists in Boston. She also has completed training in implantology to make our restorative care even better.

The first step to restoring your smile is making an appointment at First Dental Associates. Call [phone] or fill out our online form to rebuild and protect your smile.