Missing tooth:

Do you have missing teeth leaving some space in your arch? Why is it important to restore the space?

If you have missing teeth on a certain area of your mouth, you obviously would not be able to chew well from that side. You would then start chewing all your food from the side where you have teeth causing that area to overwork. This misbalance in distribution of forces and overworking of one side would cause premature fracture and ware of all other existing teeth.

What if you only have one tooth missing?

In an ideal mouth, every tooth is in contact with its neighbor tooth and in contact with the opposing tooth. When one tooth is removed, overtime drifting of the surrounding tooth to the missing space occurs leading to a disharmony in bite. This again, over a period of time may lead to multiple other problems like changes in bite, sensitivity and tooth fractures.

It is therefore, necessary to replace missing tooth/teeth.

Procedures for replacement of missing teeth/ tooth

Dental implants:

Dental implants are the most advanced way of replacing teeth. They look and fit like natural teeth. They are screwed into your jawbone and integrates with the jawbone to function like natural teeth. Implants generally lasts longer than other teeth replacement options.

If you have more than one missing space, you can place multiple implants.

For a completely edentulous arch, implant supported fixed dentures is also in option. It eliminates the need of removable dentures.

Bridges:

Bridges takes support of the adjacent healthy teeth to replace the missing teeth. The teeth adjacent to the missing space is prepared to receive the bridge. Restoring missing teeth spaces via bridges avoids the need of removable dentures.

Partial dentures:

Partial dentures replace multiple areas of missing teeth in the same arch. It takes support from teeth adjacent to the missing spaces. It is worn during the day and removed at night.

Complete dentures:

Complete dentures replace all the teeth in the arch. They are worn all day and removed at bedtime. Implants supported fixed or removable denture are also other options of replacing teeth in an edentulous arch.

Tooth decay/ tooth cavity:

One of the most common problems that dentists encounter is teeth decay. There are many biological reasons for tooth decay mainly led my improper maintenance of oral hygiene. Your teeth maybe sensitive or you may see a dark spot in you tooth when you have a tooth cavity. Most cavities when detected early can be treated with dental fillings. However, if the cavity is left untreated, it gets deeper and into to the tooth nerve leading to irreparable damage to the nerve. If this happens, a more through treatment called Root Canal treatment may be required.

Root Canal Treatment:

It is the process of removing all the decay on the tooth surface and removing the infected nerve. The nerve space is then filled with an inert material. The tooth becomes structurally week once the tooth decay is removed and the root canal is competed. To proctect the tooth from fracturing, a root canal treated tooth is often secured with a dental crown/ cap.

This the most common dental procedure done at a dental practice. A dental exam appointment usually follows up with a dental scaling. Scaling involves the removal of deposits around your teeth called plaque and calculus. A professional dental cleaning every 6 months recommended, however depending on your existing oral hygiene and other considerations the dentist may increase or decrease your teeth scaling intervals.

The main intent of dental scaling is to prevent bad breath, dental cavities and inflammation of gums.