Permanent Tooth Feels Loose
A person’s teeth serve an immensely important mechanical purpose, biting and chewing food and helping support a healthy diet, as well as a significant cosmetic purpose as they’re the first thing people see when you smile. Permanent teeth are meant to maintain this function and appearance for a lifetime, while facing all sorts of dangers and doing an awful lot of work. Despite our best efforts, however, permanent teeth can become loose. If your permanent tooth feels loose, this could be an indication that there is a serious dental problem present, and you should make an appointment with your dentist right away. With early intervention, it may be possible to save a loose tooth and keep it from falling out, preserving the integrity of the dentition and the appearance of the smile, but without any intervention at all, it’s likely that a tooth that is loose will fall out and leave an inconvenient, unattractively large space in the teeth.
There are several different reasons a permanent tooth could become loose, and the preferred treatment for a loose tooth will depend on its cause. Sometimes, teeth loosen because of injury or trauma, and sometimes, teeth feel loose because of a more serious problem, like advanced gum disease. If you have a loose tooth that is paired with a bad smell or bad taste in the mouth, or if your tooth is loose and your gums are swollen, bleeding, or painful, gum disease is a near certainty. No matter what the reason for a loose permanent tooth, early dental attention can make a big difference in the outcome of treatment.
If you leave a loose tooth unaddressed, it is very likely that the problem will get worse. In fact, if you have a permanent tooth that feels loose, chewing with the tooth will cause more damage to befall the tooth and could even lead to the tooth being painfully forced out of the mouth, so be careful to avoid using the part of your mouth where your loose tooth is while you wait for your visit to the dentist. If your face is injured by a fall or a blow, your tooth may have become dislodged at its root and may require a dental splint to hold the tooth in place while it heals and its stability is restored. Once the tooth has healed, the splint can be removed. If the loose tooth has been irreparably damaged, the dentist may have no choice but to remove the tooth; your dentist will also discuss possible replacement options with you if a tooth must be extracted.
If your teeth have loosened because you grind or clench them unconsciously or while sleeping, your dentist may recommend a night guard. Grinding and clenching the teeth can cause the teeth to loosen over time, as the teeth, gums, and bone attempt to support the immense strain caused by these behaviors. Many patients report improvement of their condition after only a few weeks of wearing a night guard, and some patients report improvement despite only wearing their night guard occasionally.
Most of the time, when an adult’s permanent tooth feels loose, it is because of advanced gum disease, or periodontitis. The treatment for teeth that are loose because of periodontitis is to treat the periodontitis. Periodontitis is a complex condition that usually requires a multi-pronged treatment approach. The first step in treating periodontitis is to deep clean the teeth, gums, and mouth, removing infected tissue and accumulated bacteria. This procedure, called a scaling and root planing procedure, takes about a month for full recovery and can be successful in addressing gum disease and maintaining the life of the natural teeth. When gum disease has progressed to the point where the teeth have begun to fall out, the gum disease is treated before dental restoration options are planned and implemented.