There is one missing tooth in the back. Is it really no big deal?

Most people have no objection to the restoration of the missing anterior teeth. After all, it is a [facade project]. If it is not done properly, it will affect the image too much.

Posterior teeth may also fall off or need to be pulled out due to serious dental caries, periodontal disease, cracked teeth and other reasons. At this time, everyone is easy to hesitate whether to repair. Because posterior teeth are not easy to see at ordinary times, the sense of presence seems not strong.

However, dentists treat anterior teeth and posterior teeth equally and repair any missing teeth.

Why does even the posterior teeth emphasize early repair?

Posterior tooth loss has many disadvantages.

1. Affect chewing

Without a posterior tooth, the first feeling is chewing inconvenience.

The teeth work in pairs. If one is missing, there will be a missing point in the occlusion on this side. When eating, some [fish] in the food will not be ground by the teeth and need to be chewed several times, thus reducing the chewing efficiency.

Of course, this kind of discomfort varies from person to person. Some people may not think it is obvious and can [adapt], but this is only the beginning of a series of troubles.

2. Affect tooth arrangement

Next (this process usually takes several years), the adjacent tooth will gradually tilt and shift to the vacancy, and the tooth facing the vacancy will gradually elongate, which will cause two consequences:

(1) The normal connection relationship between the closely adjacent teeth around the vacancy is destroyed and the teeth are loosened, thus becoming easier to be stuffed with food and difficult to clean, thus accelerating the caries of other teeth;

(2) The vacancy in the missing tooth position gradually narrows, leaving less space for restoration, and the difficulty of restoration gradually increases. When the vacancy is small to a certain extent, it cannot be repaired, or at this time, the cost of restoration is already too high to be repaired.

3. Affect alveolar bone

If the time is longer, the alveolar bone at the missing tooth will atrophy and absorb itself, and this process will accelerate with the participation of periodontal disease.

This will be an irreversible process. Once alveolar bone is absorbed, the supporting tissue of teeth will disappear. It is possible that when dental implant restoration is done in the future, the necessary physiological conditions will be lost, and the restoration effect is often poor or irreparable.

Step 4 Affect joints

In addition, with the increase of the number of lost teeth, many people may gradually form the habit of [preferring to chew with one tooth] due to chewing inconvenience or pain, further causing dysfunction of the oral and maxillofacial system, increasing the burden on the mandibular joint, causing joint bouncing, pain and easy jamming.

Tooth loss should be repaired as soon as possible.

Teeth are like a team. When several teeth are absent, the remaining teeth can share the work of missing teeth, so people with missing teeth may not feel inconvenience, which is one of the reasons why people ignore the problem of missing teeth.

In fact, from a long-term perspective, it is very [uneconomical] not to repair missing teeth as soon as possible.

Because the longer the delay, the more complicated the problem, not only the cost of treatment increases, but also the difficulty of repair increases, and the damage to health gradually escalates.

Choose the appropriate repair scheme

There are many forms of restoration for vacancies after tooth loss. From common removable dentures and fixed prostheses to dental implants that have developed vigorously in recent years, each has its own advantages and disadvantages, and the missing teeth they are good at repairing are also different.