Family and Cosmetic Dentist - Livonia
31574 Schoolcraft Road
Livonia, MI 48150
(734) 425-4530
A missing front tooth would probably have you running to our office with your hand over your mouth, looking for the quickest way to fill the gap. A missing back tooth usually doesn't result in the same urgency, but there are very good reasons why, even though it's not as visible as a missing front tooth, you still need to replace any missing back teeth.
Your teeth, when all present, keep each other in line. When one is knocked out or lost due to dental decay, the resulting gap opens up a space for surrounding teeth to drift out of position, shift, or tip into the empty space and change your bite. This could potentially lead to pain in your jaw, cavities, gum disease and the potential to lose more teeth.
As more teeth go missing, you'll be forced to chew in other areas, which sometimes leads to tooth fractures from overloading, excessive wear and/or TMJ (jaw joint) problems.
Though you can't see it, as soon as a tooth is lost, the surrounding bone starts to deteriorate. How quickly this happens will depend on the bone's density, your bite and how well your teeth align with each other.
Please talk to us about replacements for any missing teeth. Early intervention will help you avoid more extensive -and expensive! - dentistry in the future.