The Tribune

By DR SPARKMAN FERGUSON

Many challenges occur in the oral cavity throughout the adult life of a person. Two of these challenges are inextricablly linked together and continue to wreak havoc in the mouths of many. They are losing permanent teeth and failing to replace permanent teeth.

There is no mystery involved in the use of the term “permanent teeth”. It is actually self-explanatory. But for thoroughness I’d like to further emphasise that permanent teeth should be considered so, as they were intended to stay healthy and remain in the mouth for a lifetime. Sometimes, through accident or through disease, a permanent tooth or a group of permanent teeth are lost from the mouth. This is always a tragic situation, but can easily be rectified.

When one tooth is lost from the mouth, a chain reaction takes place that most people are not aware of. This is so because the end result can take several years to manifest itself.

With the loss of a single tooth, here’s what happens:

1. Neighbouring teeth begin to move in an effort to close the gap

2. As the neighbouring teeth move, they can develop gum disease and tooth decay

3. Abnormal chewing actions change to compensate for the missing tooth

4. Eventually, more teeth will be lost

The aforementioned reasons should cause us all to not want to ever lose a tooth. Accidents, however, are unpredictible and losing permanent teeeth in this way is sometimes unavoidable. Conversely, losing teeth because of disease is within our control and highly preventable.

The only thing worse than losing permanent teeth is failing to replace permanent teeth after they are lost. The normal human mouth is designed to function optimally when all its original teeth are present. Fortunately, a permanent tooth can be replaced if it is missing because of accident or disease.

People often fool themselves into thinking that their mouths are exactly the same even after losing several permanent teeth. It should be obvious that this is not the case.

No mouth is ever the same again when teeth are lost and gaps remain.

Replacement facts

Dental replacement teeth are important in order to regain the original function of the mouth. Dental replacement teeth prevent neighbouring teeth from moving,return good looks and esthetics, and improve chewing. Dental replacement teeth can be in the form of dental bridges, dental implants, partial dentures, or full dentures.

Dental replacement teeth can be expensive depending on the quality of the replacements. However, the least expensive replacement still offers the benefit of oral health protections that are far better than ignoring the condition.

Conclusion

People ought to not accept sporting an empty mouth, or acccept gaps throughout the mouth because of missing teeth. The ultimate price of losing more teeth awaits this neglectful behavior.

A workable solution awaits every type of mouth gap known. Persons with this challenge are encouraged to consult a dental professional and reduce their risk of becoming toothless.