What happens when we lose a tooth?
It is very important to understand the consequences of losing a tooth since once you see it lost and the healing process is complete, you should not feel discomfort in terms of pain; and by not having pain we could think that everything is fine, which is not entirely true.
The mouth is like a puzzle in which all the pieces must fit correctly, so that an imbalance does not occur that can create problems in the short, medium or long term in the bite.
Eating well and smiling are one of the greatest pleasures of life, therefore it is important to take the necessary corrective measures as soon as possible. Losing a tooth involves aesthetic and functional problems.
We will mention below some problems of losing a tooth:
1. What about the bite?
All the teeth are joined by a point of contact, which is why when we floss we have to use a little force. When losing a tooth, we lose that point of contact and neighboring teeth tend to move. The antagonist tooth, not having to collide with, seeks to collide with and extrudes, it comes out. All this brings as consequences that interferences appear in the bite that can cause fractures of other teeth and problem in the gums among others; that could put other teeth that are still healthy at risk.
2. What about the bone?
The root of a tooth is surrounded by a periodontal ligament, which is what allows it to have certain movements during the forces of chewing, this ligament transmits forces to the bone, allowing the bone to remain in a state of balance. When losing a tooth, we also lose the periodontal ligament and this results in loss of balance; resulting in bone loss . We can avoid this bone loss with the preservation technique of the alveolus with platelet gel and in case the bone has been lost, with techniques of guided bone regeneration.
3. What about the maxillary sinus?
When we lose a tooth, the maxillary sinus becomes pneumatized, this means that it enlarges and when it enlarges we lose bone in height.
If we wanted to place dental implants where we have lost teeth, part of the implant would remain in this air cavity without support to resist the forces of chewing.
