Though they may be small & often taken for granted, our teeth play a large role in our lives—not only within our mouths but when working in tandem with the rest of our body as well. Issues that start with our teeth & oral health can easily make its way into affecting our face, digestion & overall bodily health.
Difficulty Chewing & Eating
The most obvious impact of losing teeth is a greater difficulty chewing & eating food. With fewer teeth, especially if it is your back molars, chewing can take longer & require more effort for your remaining teeth. Fewer teeth can also lead to a need for a diet change to avoid hard or chewy foods & instead opting for softer, more processed foods. Unfortunately, this may also lead to nutritional deficiencies due to missing the diversity of vitamins & fiber that come with a varied diet. It is important to ensure that the altered foods you are eating still cover all of your needed nutrients.
Less effective chewing can also lead to larger chunks of food particles entering the digestive system, slowing down digestion & potentially causing bloating or indigestion. Additionally, an altered diet that leans toward processed sugary foods & avoids high fiber foods can make your gut bacteria suffer & potentially lead to other digestive conditions like dysbiosis.
Bone Loss & Facial Changes
The woes of missing teeth’s consequences are not only internal with your nutrition & digestion—they can also outwardly show through jawbone atrophy & change your face shape! Believe it or not—your teeth’s roots do a lot of work stimulating the jawbone to keep it strong. When your teeth are no longer there, the lack of stimulation causes the jawbone to break down. Missing teeth can also result in shifts in jaw alignment because the surrounding teeth may try to fill the gap left by the missing tooth. If the shift changes the overall alignment of the bottom jaw, issues with teeth grinding & discomfort may arise.
If your jawbone shrinks due to the missing teeth, it can lead to facial changes like sunken cheeks, sagging skin around your mouth & even loss of lip support. Unfortunately, at that stage, the only solution would be to get dental implants. Dentures & bridges may replace your missing teeth, but only the dental implants—with its fake tooth roots—would be able to replicate the same jawbone stimulation that your real teeth had to prevent deterioration.
Speech Impediments
Teeth are also essential in the clarity of our pronunciation & articulate speech. Many consonant sounds, including “s”, “t” & “f”, rely heavily on your teeth making contact with your tongue or lip. With missing teeth, this can lead to slurring or lisping because of the gaps or difference in airflow. Additionally, the gaps in teeth may also cause whistling while speaking as air escapes through the gaps as you talk. Of all your teeth, the front teeth are most important for forming sounds & the molars are the main controllers of airflow.
Potential remedies to this situation include getting tooth replacements, such as dental implants, bridges or dentures, or undergoing speech therapy & lots of practice speaking to help your tongue & lips adjust to the new surface area of your mouth. Reading out loud, practicing difficult sounds & repeating tongue twisters are all methods of strengthening your tongue muscles for smoother speech.
Increased Risk of Systemic Health Issues
Last but not least, yet another consequence of missing teeth is the higher risk of gum disease. If not brushing or flossing properly, the gaps in teeth can create pockets for bacteria & food particles to accumulate & skyrocket the chances of gum disease. If left untreated, the gum disease can spread through the bloodstream & affect other organs— linking to increased risks of heart disease, diabetes & even Alzheimer’s & dementia.
Therefore, if you have missing teeth, it is more essential than ever to ensure that you are brushing & flossing regularly & effectively. You may even want to implement a water floss to get into the gaps of missing teeth & flush out any lingering particles.
Sources
https://www.virginianewsmiles.com/how-missing-teeth-can-change-your-eating-patterns
https://www.temeculafacialoralsurgery.com/missing-teeth-cause-digestive-problems/
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/dysbiosis
https://www.moderndaysmiles.com/how-dental-implants-prevent-bone-loss-and-preserve-facial-structure
https://www.utahcountysmiles.com/how-tooth-extraction-affects-your-speech/