Today we live in a society that is looking for ways to reverse the signs of premature aging.
We stay away from the sun, use various facial moisturizers and pay attention to our nutrition to reduce wrinkles. But did you know that your missing teeth can also cause signs of aging?
You are aware that replacing missing teeth creates a better-looking smile. However, you may not have the knowledge that missing teeth can change the shape of your face quite a lot.
In healthy mouths without missing teeth, the roots of the teeth are supported by the jawbone. When teeth are missing, the jawbone gradually shrinks, resulting in reduced facial support. In other words, with every tooth lost, bone and facial muscle support is lost, which can change your appearance. Without teeth to support, facial depressions such as sunken and drooping cheeks can begin to manifest, making you look older than you are.
The Importance of Replacing Missing Teeth
In addition to facial profile support, teeth help improve chewing, digestion, speech and even self-confidence. Studies have shown that tooth loss can have a negative impact on self-esteem.
Since we know that teeth keep your facial muscles and bones intact, we can say that there is a relationship between missing teeth and early signs of aging. Without the support provided by your teeth, your mouth and cheeks may collapse, shrink, and sag, often referred to as a slump.
It creates gaps in missing teeth. While a few cavities may seem insignificant, cavities allow displacement of existing teeth, which also affects facial support. Therefore, even if you only lose a few posterior teeth, these teeth can shift and cause a domino effect that can also change your front tooth position. Cavities in front teeth can negatively affect your appearance.
Unfortunately, an aged face isn’t the only problem with missing teeth. Tooth loss also causes lifestyle changes. Without full dental support, people have difficulty chewing, speaking, or smiling. Tooth loss can become a major obstacle to any additional tooth loss, rather than just an inconvenience.
Missing Teeth Can Make You Look Older!
Aging facial appearance is a lesser known problem that people think about when they lose their teeth. The signs of premature aging due to tooth loss include the following facial profile changes;
Facial angles: When you lose your teeth, we also lose the height of the jawbone, which reduces the height of the face. The change in angle can change the face shape and make the nose appear larger. Loss of shape causes the face to appear sunken.
Facial wrinkles: Angle changes in the face can cause increased vertical lines that make you look older than you really are.
Bite changes: Tooth loss causes changes in the way teeth come together. A distortion in the bite can create a stiffer facial appearance as the corners of your mouth lose their shape.
Frowning appearance: The loss of shape around the corners of the mouth can unwittingly make you look unhappy or even angry.
Jaw rotation: Disruption of the bite can cause forward shifting of the chin that creates a pointed appearance.
Cheek jowls: When part of the jawbone is lost, it causes the muscle ligaments to weaken, which allows facial tissue to sag.
Thin lips: They can look thin without teeth to support the full lip look. In addition, the weakening of the muscles around the mouth with missing teeth causes the lips to appear longer instead of fuller, making you look older.
Help Prevent Premature Aging by Replacing Missing Teeth!
While tooth replacement options have been available for a long time, traditional replacement options such as partial and dentures do not correct the missing jawbone. While dentures replace the visible part of the missing tooth, they do not replace the roots in the jawbone. This means that dentures cannot prevent further bone loss, even if they replace missing teeth.
Fortunately, there is a treatment available, called a dental implant, which not only replaces missing teeth, but also replaces the missing jawbone support. Dental implants actually act like tooth roots because they integrate with the jawbone to provide full bone support, just like your own teeth. After the implant is placed, your dentist places a crown over it, which then replaces the root of the tooth and the visible missing tooth.
