Whether we’re observing the gaunt, sunken face of an elderly woman who has lost all her teeth, or having a terrifying encounter with an unsavoury toothless type loitering at the local train station, there’s no doubt about it: missing teeth are unsightly to behold.
Missing teeth are not just a visually unattractive marker of socio-economic status, however.
Having gaps in your jawline can also signal a myriad of other oral health issues, like jawbone deterioration, facial sagging, and shifting teeth, to name a few.
If you’re missing teeth, it’s critical to act quickly, and not just for appearances’ sake. Taking measures like getting dental implants can not only drastically improve your looks, but can also help minimise the serious health risks associated with a gap-toothed grin.
Let’s discuss some of the consequences of leaving our missing teeth untreated.
Unwanted Movement in the Mouth: Shifting Teeth
It goes without saying – if you lose a tooth, you’ll be left with a gaping hole in its place. So, what happens when there’s a hole in your jawline? Other teeth surrounding the gap can drift towards the hole, causing a phenomenon known as shifting teeth. This can result in jawline misalignment, as teeth shift out of their dedicated spot.
When our teeth shift, they can also become hard to reach for cleaning, brushing and flossing. What happens when we don’t clean, brush or floss our teeth properly? We start to experience things like tooth decay and gum disease. You don’t need to be a dentist to realise the long-term consequences of decaying, diseased gums and teeth. But one thing is for sure: this is best avoided at all costs.
Potential Jawbone Deterioration
Also known as bone resorption, jawbone deterioration can be another consequence of untreated missing teeth. How does it happen? When we’re missing a tooth, the bone underneath it can suffer from a lack of stimulation. This can cause said bone to deteriorate, or ‘resorb’ – leading to a decrease in the bone mass of our jawline.
The worst part about this? Jawline deterioration can result in a higher risk of fracturing or breaking our jaws – an outcome that is not only painful, but also costly to repair.
Let’s Face it: Facial Sagging Can Happen
If we’re missing teeth, the structure of our faces can start to sag, droop, and even collapse.
Needless to say, having a sagging, drooping face and sunken, hollow cheeks can age us immensely, making us look much older than we are. For some of us, this can hugely affect our confidence, self-esteem, and willingness to put ourselves forward socially. This can also have a flow-on effect on our psychological health.
If we want to avoid looking like the proverbial witches of fairy tales of old with wrinkled, sinking cheeks devoid of plumpness, we should take measures to replace missing teeth if we have the means to do so.
Adverse Effects on Bite Alignment
As a result of our teeth shifting due to gaps in our jawline, our bite alignment can also be affected. What does this mean? When we bite down on something – whether it’s a crunchy apple, a sweet candy, or a cheesy pizza slice – and the spread of our bite is uneven, this can cause a shooting pain in the jaw and also make it difficult for us to chew.
In extreme cases, a misaligned bite can cause oral health conditions known as TMJ disorders, with symptoms including jaw tenderness, headaches, eye, neck and ear pain, and even locked jaws.
There’s no doubt about it – untreated tooth loss can impact both our appearance and, most importantly, our oral health.
As well as being unsightly to look at, missing teeth can cause our faces to sag, our teeth to shift, cause our bite to misalign, and our jaws to deteriorate. This is without mentioning the impact of a gappy smile on our self-esteem and confidence.
In the long run, replacing and treating missing teeth is not just for aesthetic benefit: it can also save us from a great deal of pain and discomfort, as well as help us reduce the risk of experiencing some of the serious oral health conditions we’ve discussed today.