Tooth Loss In Adults
At Butte Family Dentistry we have a highly trained staff that genuinely cares about our Montana patients’ oral health. And we know that, unless you are a child, having teeth that are loosening and/or missing is a real cause for concern.
What’s more, when this begins to happen, it can be a sign of a serious oral health issue. Unlike the primary teeth of a child’s mouth, adult teeth do not fall out from natural causes. And to make matters worse, there is no tooth fairy around to compensate your loss!
Butte Family Dentistry Is Here To Help
The loss of permanent adult teeth can be due to any number of reasons. We will try to outline a few of these, alert you as to what to watch for, and hopefully offer some treatment options.
Gum Disease
If we had to rank the leading causes of tooth loss in adults, gum disease would top the list. This condition is basically a major infection of the important support structures for your teeth. Once gum disease (also known as periodontal disease) attacks the bone, your teeth will begin to loosen and will ultimately be dislodged altogether.
Injury
Our best advice on this one is to consider an athletic mouthguard and always be aware of your surroundings. A trip to the pool or engaging in a rigorous sporting activity (soccer, football, baseball, etc.) can easily result in an unexpected injury to your mouth. Such an injury can chip or knock a tooth out instantaneously. It might also cause unseen damage to the root that will eventually necessitate extraction.
Fracture
A tooth fracture can be brought on by habitual teeth grinding or other contributing factors. Depending on the depth and precise location of the crack or fracture, a crown may fix the problem allowing you to keep the tooth. In the very worst cases, extraction might be in order.
Decay
Untreated cavities will attack your tooth’s structure and can potentially cause infection in the bone support structure. At Butte Family Dentistry, we hope you will never let the situation in your mouth go from bad to worse.
Find Out About Our Treatment Options
Scheduling your next consultation or exam will allow our team to give you an accurate diagnosis of whatever might currently be going on in your mouth. This will also give you a chance to hear about the variety of treatment options available to you in our comfortable and pain-free Butte office.
In addition to full service preventative maintenance, we offer tooth removal/extraction services, implants, total mouth reconstruction, crowns and bridges. When you visit us in person, you will receive good individualized advice and friendly reminders about risk factors and warning signs.
Know the Risk Factors
Among dental professionals, periodontal disease is often deemed “silent.” This is true in the sense that there is not always pain to accompany the infection. However, when caught early enough, treatments are typically successful.
Accidents and emergencies aside, tooth loss (even in the form of periodontal disease) can often be averted. To aid in prevention, our dental team has determined some red flags as well as healthy habits.
Smoking & Tooth Loss
There are a number of well known reasons why consumers of tobacco are at a higher risk of facing health issues. But did you know that smokers can much more easily develop periodontal disease which in turn leads to tooth loss? If you are a smoker, please be vigilant about scheduling your regular dental check-ups.
Related Health Issues
We have noticed that patients with diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, and other related health issues are more likely to suffer from gum disease (which, as you will remember, tops our list of leading causes of tooth loss in adults).
Oral Hygiene
We cannot overstate the importance of daily brushing, flossing, etc. Patients who only occasionally brush or floss their teeth are much more likely to develop plaque, tartar, and other mouth bacteria that can contribute to decay and tooth loss.
Stop Avoiding The Dentist
We strongly suggest visiting Butte Family Dentistry every six months for a regular cleaning and checkup. Those who stay away too long run the risk of developing oral health issues in addition to the unseemly buildup of plaque and tartar.
Contact us today for more information or to schedule your next dental visit.