Although it happens often, losing your adult teeth isn’t something that comes naturally with age. Actually, it’s something you can avoid if you protect your dental health from the most common causes of tooth loss.
Even if you do lose an adult tooth, the good news is that it can be replaced, and your smile saved, with a lifelike prosthesis – such as a dental implant. By restoring the vital functions of your lost tooth and its root(s), a dental implant can help you preserve your long-term dental health and prevent further tooth loss.
3 Reasons for Adult Tooth Loss
Your tooth and/or gums are severely diseased
Gum disease is the most widespread cause of permanent tooth loss, but when not treated in time, tooth decay and cavities can also cause tooth loss, or severe tooth deterioration. The most effective way to prevent both conditions is to control the bacteria that cause them, which are found mostly in dental plaque and tartar. Be sure to brush and floss at least twice a day, and attend every schedule dental checkup and cleaning appointment as often as recommended.
Your tooth is a hindrance to your dental health
While gum disease claims the most “lost” teeth, impacted molars may be the most commonly extracted ones. The third set of molars, or wisdom teeth, often become lodged against the second molars as they try to erupt from the gum line. The obstruction can stop them from erupting, but it won’t stop them from growing, and impacted wisdom teeth can cause severe damage to your other teeth and surrounding oral structures if they are not extracted.
Your tooth is knocked out
Athletes who play contact sports may experience knocked-out, or avulsed, teeth more than others, but you don’t have to play sports for it to happen. If you slip and fall, get into a physical altercation, are involved in a car accident, or otherwise experience trauma to the face or mouth, then you might end up with one or more teeth missing. Unfortunately, by its definition, accidental tooth loss isn’t always preventable. However, you can restore your smile, and preserve the rest of it, by replacing your lost tooth/teeth with one or more dental implants.
