To lose a tooth at any age is traumatic. To suddenly find yourself with a large space between your teeth can be unsettling with how it looks and feels. Not being able to confidently eat all the foods you love can be disheartening.
And the loss of bone density means many potential long-term problems will lie ahead:
Loss of bone density around the tooth loss area can affect the function of your remaining teeth
Chewing differently leads to an irregular bite pattern that can cause discomfort and problems for surrounding teeth.
Facially, your appearance can be affected as bone loss progresses, meaning lack of bone support for the face creates a more aged look. When the mouth is resting lips may also appear to sag.
So what do you do?
Until recently, the traditional options for tooth loss were not too appealing: Dentures, bridge or live with the gap.
A fear of a denture popping out at any moment can soon leave you feeling fearful in social settings.
A ‘bridge’ is not a lifelong solution and may result in decay associated problems with your surrounding teeth.
To live with a gap can affect your inner confidence if you feel self-conscious when you smile or speak. It’s not a nice problem to live with.
So what can you do now?
Dental implants are the nearest replacement to a missing tooth with both its appearance and function. The procedure is painless. And can be fairly quick.
Dr Guy McLellan at The Complete Smile Twickenham has successfully placed over 10 000 dental implants. Guy is doubly qualified in both dentistry and medicine and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He has over 10 years’ hospital experience including training in ENT and plastic surgery and currently holds a Honorary Consultant post in Oral Implantology at Charing Cross Hospital where he runs the dental implant clinic. His experience in implants dates back to 1994 and includes extra-oral implants to retain facial cosmetics/reconstruction following facial cancer surgery as well as intra-oral cancer rehabilitation and facial deformities such as cleft lip and palate. He continues to work as a member of the Cranio-Facial team at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. In private practice he limits his practice to surgical implantology and augmentation procedures including complex intra-oral and extra-oral grafting. He is a mentor for Nobel Biocare and is actively involved in Implant education. He is a member of the Association of Dental Implantology (ADI), the European Association of Osseointegration and a Fellow of the International Congress of Oral Implantologists.He is a mentor for Nobel Biocare and the ADI. GDC registration no. 6988