It is important that you maintain good dental hygiene at home, which includes brushing your teeth at least twice a day and flossing at least once. You should be using a suitable mouthwash to rinse your mouth and remove any lingering food particles and bacteria, to keep your teeth clean and reduce levels of plaque and tartar in the mouth. When plaque and tartar build up in your mouth it increases the number of bacteria that are able to damage your teeth. Although there is plenty of good bacteria in the mouth, harmful bacteria can quickly increase and damage your teeth and gums. Here, at Plowman & Partners, our dentist in Marylebone will help make sure that your teeth are clean and free of excess plaque and tartar. In the UK, Australia and the USA, plaque and tartar are the main causes of missing teeth.

Tooth loss

Missing teeth can have a huge range of implications. To begin with, they change the appearance of your smile and can affect your self-confidence and your self-esteem. This can prevent you from smiling in public, force you to cover your mouth with your hands and make you self-conscious about the appearance of your teeth when around other people. Missing teeth can affect the shape of your face, make your cheeks appear sunken and make you look older than you actually are. They can affect the function of your mouth at the same time. You will not be able to pronounce all your words correctly if you are missing teeth at the front of your mouth, you will probably not be able to bite into some of your favourite foods and you may find that the rest of your teeth feel weaker than they did before. This is because each tooth supports adjacent teeth, including the tooth above or below it.

When a tooth loses its support then this will have a negative impact. The remaining teeth will try to fill the gap left by the missing tooth and this can cause more issues including more missing teeth in a short amount of time. Speak to our dentist in Marylebone and find out about replacing the missing teeth sooner rather than later. Our dentist in Marylebone will often recommend dental implants for replacing your missing teeth. Dental implants are small, titanium screws that become fixed into your jaw and replace the root of the missing tooth. The tooth can then be replaced with a crown, a bridge or a set of dentures, depending on what is most suitable for you. Dental implant surgery is an invasive procedure. However, once it is complete and the implant has healed it will stay in place for the rest of your life if you look after your teeth carefully and visit the dentist on a regular basis. This means that it is ideal for patients who lose their teeth early in life, but also for patients of all ages including elderly people, if they have sufficient healthy jawbone they can also find out about replacing their missing teeth with dental implants. Speak to our dentist today to find out more.