Dental Implants: The Importance of Replacing the Back Teeth

Dental implants have helped millions of patients find a suitable, permanent replacement for their lost teeth. However, what is particularly interesting (if not entirely unexpected) is that many patients feel that replacing the back teeth is not as important as replacing ones in the front. This, in spite of the fact that the back teeth do much more of the labor when it comes to their primary function: chewing food. Of course, the reason people place reduced importance on the back teeth is because they aren’t as visible. People may not even know you lost them when you smile. However, replacing them is every bit as important, for a number of reasons.

Missing teeth have an effect on a person’s appearance beyond the simple fact of gaps in the smile. Missing back teeth can actually cause a minor collapse in the facial structure. This leads to an aged appearance that could lead to you looking much older than your years would suggest. Wrinkles, sunken cheeks, and thin lips are all possible consequences of losing back teeth and failing to have them replaced. Everything in the structure of your jaw is there for a reason. When a piece goes missing, it is naive to think that there won’t be consequences beyond the tooth itself.

It is important to understand that one of the biggest functions of the jaws is to provide bone support for the teeth. When there is no longer a tooth there to support, it is common to experience bone disintegration, as there is no longer a valid purpose for it to be there. We see the same phenomenon when a person leads an extremely sedentary lifestyle. The muscles perceive that they have no valid use, and thus they begin to atrophy. The same thing happens with the bones in our jaws when there is no longer tooth root to support. Getting dental implants gives your jaws purpose again, and goes a long way towards preventing some of this degradation.

Of course, tooth loss will also have an adverse effect on how you chew your food. This may seem like a minor inconvenience, but it can turn into much more than that. You may find yourself compensating by using other teeth to do the job the missing teeth would have once done. This can lead to additional wear and tear on teeth that weren’t meant to carry so much of the workload. Additionally, if you don’t do this compensating, you risk getting food and particles stuck in the hole where a tooth once was. This can lead to infections and bacteria.

Dental implants are pricey, but the service they perform is nearly invaluable. See your dentist soon if you have experience tooth loss and discuss your options as it pertains to replacement.