These two mistakes can lead to tooth loss
Posted on: 10 May 2017
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Losing one or more of your teeth can be a distressing experience. It can affect your bite alignment, your speech and your ability to chew and fully digest your food. As such, it's important to be aware of the things that could increase your chances of developing this dental health issue. Here are two mistakes which can lead to tooth loss.
Failing to go for regular check-ups
Many people don't bother going for their annual dental check-ups, and instead only visit their dentist once every few years. This is usually because they believe that if they're not exhibiting symptoms of a dental health issue (such as a toothache or bleeding gums), that their teeth are perfectly healthy. This is a mistake which could have serious consequences, including tooth loss.
Dental check-ups serve two main purposes; firstly, they give your dentist a chance to perform dental work that will prevent future problems (for example, a scale-and-polish can be used to remove hardened plaque before it begins to erode the tooth enamel).
Secondly, it allows them to detect and immediately address minor dental health issues, long before they begin to evolve into major issues. For instance, let's say you have developed a small cavity in one of your teeth. If you attend your annual appointment at the dental clinic, your dentist will be able to spot this cavity, insert a filling and thus prevent the decay from continuing to eat away at the tooth enamel.
On the other hand, if you skip your appointment, the decaying process will continue, potentially to the point where the pulp becomes infected. An infection in the pulp drastically increases the risk of the tooth root dying and the tooth having to be extracted.
The only procedure that might be able to save the tooth when the issue has reached this stage is root canal therapy. This is a lengthy and complex treatment which doesn't always guarantee success. Even in instances where the dentist is able to successfully remove the infected pulp tissue, if the tooth is not correctly cared for, the tooth may crack and fall out in the future.
Indulging in starchy and sugary meals too often
The bacterial plaque that reside in your mouth feed on the sugary, starchy foods that you consume. The acid they create as a result of digesting these foods can do a great deal of damage to your teeth. It erodes the enamel (the tooth's protective, outermost layer) and eats away at the tooth structure underneath, eventually causing cavities and infections which can lead to tooth loss.
If you regularly eat a lot of starch-based meals, as well as a lot of sweets (especially things like toffees and jellies, which tend to get stuck in the crevices of molars), you are at greater risk of losing one or more of your teeth.
If you're concerned about this, consider switching to sugar-free versions of your favourite sweets, and try to limit your consumption of both starchy and sugary meals to periods of the day where you can brush your teeth soon after eating; this will reduce the amount of time that the bacterial plaque have to generate acid from the food particles left in your mouth.