Why you should consider replacing missing back teeth?
Dr. D.Sendhil Nathan MDS, DNB Prosthodontics And Implantology
Dental restoration is inevitable for every permanent tooth you lost. Whether you lose a tooth to cavities, gum disease or physical injuries, you should replace it with an artificial tooth. It applies to surgical extraction as well.
Typically, many people give priority to restoring their missing front teeth for aesthetic reasons but neglecting the missing back teeth. This is often because no one will see the missing teeth at the back of your mouth. Although the missing molar teeth are not highly visible, the loss of function created by their absence is quite destructive.
Keep reading to find out the detrimental effects of ignoring molar teeth restoration.
What are the consequences of not replacing your missing molar teeth?
Molar teeth are the flat teeth present at the back of our mouth and have 4 – 5 cusps. They are also known as posterior teeth and are built for crushing, grinding foods so that we can swallow the foods easily.
It means a missing back tooth will affect your chewing ability. Similarly, it is associated with various discomforts in the long run that are listed as follows:
- Difficulty in eating – Chewing certain foods like meat will become a tedious thing with missing back teeth. If you do not chew foods properly, your body cannot absorb the nutrients in your meals. Likewise, improper chewing will provoke digestion problems, acid reflux diseases, and much more.
- Faster Deterioration – When a tooth in your mouth is absent, the surrounding teeth do not have adequate support and have to bear the additional brunt of the missing tooth. As time passes by, the extensive force weakens the adjacent teeth surrounding the space caused by a missing tooth.
- Bone Resorption – The stimulatory force from chewing is essential to strengthening the bone around our teeth. As the posterior teeth are built for chewing activities, the absence or decrease in chewing efficiency ends in reducing the bone mass in the missing tooth’s region. This also accelerates weakening the remaining teeth.
- Affects your facial aesthetics – When a molar tooth is absent, the extensive force on the remaining teeth and accelerated bone resorption will cause a reduction in the facial bone height. It causes sagging in the cheeks and your face will look older than you are.
- TMJ Disorder – The temporomandibular joints present in either side of our jaw also mandate chewing forces for their well-being. The lack of chewing force due to missing teeth, followed by alterations in muscles around the jaw stimulates pain in the jaw bone.
What is the right tooth replacement option for missing back teeth?
Despite you have plenty of options to replace missing teeth, go for dental implants whether it is front teeth or posterior teeth. Teeth Implants are small titanium posts inserted into the socket of a missing tooth. Then the inserted post gets embedded with the existing jawbone.
It helps in promoting the stimulatory force from chewing and does the same function like your natural teeth. Besides revamping the chewing force, implants prevent bone deterioration, teeth misalignment, and other harmful consequences we discussed in the above section.
Have queries or need to know more about the importance of replacing your missing back teeth? contact our Sendhil dental clinic. Our dentists are ready to answer your questions.
