The Cost of Ignoring Your Missing Teeth

Hello my friend.
One of the parts of my job that breaks my heart is seeing a patient suffering from tooth loss, tooth decay, and jaw bone degeneration decline treatment. I just hate this.

They often say no because of the sticker shock they feel from the initial upfront cost of dental implants.

I understand this. Few of us have wallets packed with disposable cash. Still, I know the actual cost of declining treatment for missing and decayed teeth.

Missing a tooth or a mouth full of teeth makes many things others take for granted hard to do. You can’t properly bite and chew a nutritious variety of foods. Talking to strangers and smiling in a crowd becomes something you avoid. You have social anxieties and fear others may think you disfigured because of your missing teeth.

The list of negative consequences goes on and on. Still, some are worse than others. I’d like to talk with you about the negative health consequences that are waiting for you if you decide to do nothing about your missing teeth.

Let’s start with your jawbone.

The placement of your teeth largely influences your jawbone and the structure of your mouth. If you lose a tooth, your surrounding teeth shift, becoming crooked and crowded. Missing teeth damage your jawbone by failing to provide the growth stimulus needed to maintain bone density. This causes bone loss in the jaw, which thins, causing a shrunken and aged look in the lower part of the face.

Worse still, research shows that those ‘living with’ missing teeth often suffer from nutritional deficiencies. This is because they no longer can eat nutritious foods like fresh vegetables and meats. Worse still, they cannot properly chew the foods they do eat. Chewing is the first stage of digestion, and if you do not chew your food properly, it makes it almost impossible for your body to process the nutrients in your food. Living with missing teeth means you cannot properly chew. Not being able to chew properly means your digestive system cannot do its job. This leads to nutritional deficiencies and a cascade of negative health consequences.

And this is not the worst of it…

When you’re missing teeth, you open up pockets in your gum that reach down to your jawbone. These pockets act as superhighways, allowing harmful bacteria to infiltrate your jawbone and bloodstream. These bad bacteria cause infection, which can lead to osteomyelitis and the accumulation of dangerous plaques in your arteries and veins. This is why there is a direct correlation between gum disease, missing teeth, and heart disease.

The bottom line: If you have missing teeth, deciding to ‘just live with it’ puts your self-esteem in danger, the structural integrity of your jawline in danger, and your heart and long-term health and well-being in danger.

The cost of doing nothing is simply too high.

If you are missing teeth, you may already be suffering from these negative mental, oral, and physical health consequences. And every moment you delay treatment will worsen these effects.

Please call our office at 603-605-0036 to schedule your free consultation. Get your questions answered. Choose a permanent solution for your missing teeth today.

We look forward to helping in every way we can, and we can’t wait to see you smile.