Blame the Tooth Fairy for teaching you the individual value of a lost tooth. But a missing tooth holds more than under-the-pillow dollar value.

Each tooth plays a vital, practical role in your mouth. And a dental implant is an invaluable restorative treatment for tooth loss.

It’s useful to think of your mouth as an eco-system. Your individual teeth and gums form a practical support network.

When your teeth are present-and-accounted-for and healthy they’re designed to work in perfect synch with each other. But when one goes missing due to trauma or poor dental hygiene, your entire mouth environment is at risk.

Let’s get practical

Dentists view each tooth individually. In office, for practical purposes, your tooth is identified by a number. Think of it as a numeric street address. In the same way, each tooth functions in a neighborly way with the others.

The back teeth support your facial height and enable you to chew your food. Your front teeth cut the food you eat, protect your back teeth and jaw movement, and showcase your all-important smile. You can begin to understand what the absence of one tooth can do to your mouth’s function. One missing tooth can impact your ability to chew and your appearance.

The most impractical thing you can do

Tooth loss is traumatic. But once the shock has worn off it’s easy to get accustomed to the loss.

Typically, you’ll begin to compensate by favoring your remaining teeth. It’s a natural and resourceful response but not for the long term health of your remaining teeth, gums, and bone structure.

Back (posterior) teeth support the vertical height of your face. Missing teeth in that zone can cause loss of facial height and collapse your bite.

Pressure is naturally placed on the remaining back teeth for chewing. Impact on the front (anterior) teeth can push them outward impacting their function and your appearance.

Form and function

Dental implants restore how your teeth look and perform. An implant supported crown prevents the adjacent teeth from being compromised.

You can avoid additional and often costly treatment by replacing missing teeth with implants. The long term health of your mouth is preserved as well as the cost-effective and time-valued benefit that implants deliver.

Your missing teeth were once an asset – thanks to the beloved Tooth Fairy. Now, it’s more valuable to replace them with the long-term,cost-effective value of dental implants.

Question: What has prevented you from replacing a missing tooth or teeth? Comment.