The upper and lower jawbones play a crucial role: They hold our teeth in place. If you have missing teeth or gum disease, it is most likely that you will suffer from bone loss. And for the dentist and dental surgeons to apply the appropriate treatment, they need to know the root cause of the problem first.
What Happens If You’re Not Able to Treat Jaw Bone Loss
If you have jaw bone loss and you don’t treat it as soon as possible, you might soon notice that you have a disappearing jawline. It may further lead to facial collapse and speech difficulty. It can also cause you to experience difficulty in chewing.
If you have dentures, it can also be problematic if you’ll not be able to manage bone loss; like how jawbones provide support to teeth, they also do the same function for dentures.
Dental surgeons may also find it difficult to put a dental implant if you have a deteriorating jaw bone. Bone grafting might be needed to ensure that your jaw is capable of supporting the implant.
What are the Common Causes of Jaw Bone Loss
In this section, you’ll be familiar with the common reasons why a jaw bone may deteriorate:
Tooth extraction. The extraction of a tooth means a loss of a jaw bone stimulant. When you use your teeth to chew and bite, it signals the jaw bone to function. That’s why in the absence of a tooth, the bone will start to break down and deteriorate.
Gum disease. Medically known as periodontal disease, gums with an infection will have a negative impact on the jaw bone’s function of supporting the teeth. Gum inflammation is typically caused by plaque and calculus.
Sports-related accidents. Your teeth may be broken or knocked out when you become a victim of sports-related accidents (or automobile-related ones). As stated above, missing teeth can cause bone stimulation to stop.
Bridges and dentures. These dental gears — contrary to implants — are not attached to the gums; they are simply placed atop the gum line. Therefore, they don’t have the capacity to stimulate the jaw bone.
Cysts and tumors. If you have a mouth or a facial tumor, a portion of your jaw might be required to remove. Surgeons resolve the loss of your jaw bone by doing the process of bone grafting.
How to Address Jaw Bone Loss
As mentioned earlier, the treatment for jaw bone is dependent on its root cause. This is why it is important to visit your dentist so that he or she can pinpoint the source of the issue.
In most cases — i.e. The jaw bone being possibly caused by missing teeth — dental surgeons offer to put dental implants to help stimulate the bone. Your mouth might be needed to be scanned first to determine if bone grafting is necessary or not.
In other instances, jaw bone loss is attributed to osteoporosis. If this is the case, you might need to intake a different medication and undergo hormone therapies.
What’s highly recommended is for you to consult with an expert so you may be guided for the proper treatment you will need to prevent or address bone loss.
Our dental surgeons at Northern Virginia Oral, Maxillofacial & Implant Surgery are considered the leaders in their respective fields. We always provide the best quality of care to help you achieve your oral health goals.
