How Do You Fix Dental Bone Loss in Teeth?
You probably already know how common it is for your bones to lose density as you age, but you may not realize that those weaker bones include the ones that hold your teeth in place. As your body ages, it may start to pull minerals from your bones, leaving your bones weak; this process is referred to as bone resorption. Conversely, if you start to exercise or stimulate your bones with a more balanced diet, then you can experience bone regeneration.
In the case of the dental bones, if you have lost a tooth to extraction or unaddressed gum disease, then you may have a hole where you once had a tooth. As you eat and talk, the pressure from your tooth on your jaw bone stimulates the jaw bone and keeps it strong. Without a tooth to encourage bone regeneration, the jaw bone can experience bone resorption and start to weaken. Before your jaw bone is affected negatively, you may want to talk to the dentist about replacing missing teeth. With proper dental care and some simple alterations to your lifestyle choices, you may be able to slow or even stop unnecessary bone loss.
How does bone loss or bone resorption occur in teeth?
The cells that make up the bones in our bodies, osteoblasts, receive signals from other body parts to stay healthy and to continue growing. The stimulation from your teeth on your jaw bone when you eat or talk is the message that your jaw bone needs to rebuild, stay strong, and healthy. When you lose a tooth due to gingivitis, trauma, or any other reason, the body interprets the loss of pressure as a signal to stop maintaining that portion of the jaw bone and to use the minerals and resources elsewhere in the body. What this can look like is the familiar trope of an older person with ill-fitting dentures. The person’s face is excessively wrinkled, the mouth is puckered, and the lower jaw sags. You may not need to turn to a full set of dentures, but these changes can start with just one tooth in one spot and spread.
One missing tooth that you do not address with the dentist can lead to:
- Bone loss in the jaw that supported that tooth
- Changes in your bone structure in your face
- Shifting of the surrounding teeth
- Pain when biting and chewing
- Lips dipping inward
How to slow down bone loss in teeth
Just like all the other ways that your body changes as it ages, bone loss is one part of aging that is not avoidable. Even though you can’t stop it completely, you can certaining slow it down and repair it, depending on the reason. The first way to fix dental bone loss is replacing your missing teeth. Talk to the dentist about your tooth replacement options.
One of the ways to treat missing teeth is with a dental implant and this is one of the best ways to keep the jaw bone healthy and strong. The implanted post stimulates the jaw bone like a natural tooth and stops the bone loss that occurs from a missing tooth. If the jaw bone is not strong enough to support a dental implant, the dentist can look into performing a dental bone graft to add more healthy bone tissue to strengthen specific areas.