The visual effects of losing one or more teeth can often be the most obvious problem associated with tooth loss. However, despite its visibility, this impact is only one of many different consequences that come with losing your healthy, natural tooth structure. In addition, there are also several ways in which the rest of your teeth and oral structures react. Though these impacts may not be as obvious at first, they can make tooth loss a much bigger threat to your oral health than you realize.

The way it affects your remaining teeth

Your healthy, natural teeth rely on each other in several ways. For example, whenever you bite and chew, the pressure that your jaw joints and muscles exert can be enormous. To properly absorb and distribute this pressure, your teeth rely on the stability they provide each other when they’re aligned properly. Losing one or more teeth takes this stability away from the remaining teeth closest to them. Over time, this can force them to change alignment, often toward the empty space in your smile, and put them at a high risk of experiencing severe complications.

The way it impacts your daily life

The appearance of your smile after experiencing tooth loss is only way in which it impacts your daily life. In addition to causing you to hide your smile when you interact with others, it can also impact how you bite and chew your food, and how you sound when you enunciate certain words. More extensive tooth loss can have even greater effects, and replacing your teeth as soon as possible is the most effective way to address them.

The way your oral structures react

Your remaining healthy teeth aren’t the only parts of your smile that are impacted by tooth loss. The changes in your bite pressure and balance can also affect the health and integrity of your temporomandibular joints, or TMJs, on either side of your jaw. Under excessive or uneven bite pressure, these joints can become damaged, misaligned, inflamed, or more, leading to a condition known as TMJ disorder. The discomfort and dysfunction associated with TMJ disorder can vary greatly, and correcting your bite’s function may be necessary after you’ve replaced your lost tooth or teeth.

Learn how to lessen the threat of tooth loss

Tooth loss can pose several different serious threats to your long-term oral health, and replacing your lost teeth with dental implants is the best way to mitigate them. To learn more, schedule a consultation by calling the Dental Centre of Conroe in Conroe, TX, today at (936) 441-4600.