Do you think you have a healthy mouth? A mouth that has all 32 teeth (28, in case you had your wisdom teeth removed) intact and doesn’t host any cavities and bacteria! If not, then you need to take care of your teeth. Even a healthy mouth needs proper dental care. It’s vital to maintain good oral health and avoid hypodontia or congenitally missing teeth.
You have hypodontia when your one or more teeth are missing. Heredity is one of the primary hypodontia causes. You can’t do much about that! But you can control the damage. And limit the common risk of missing teeth due to teeth infection by following good dental practices.
5 Ways to Prevent Hypodontia or Missing Teeth
Following are the 5 ways to maintain good oral health and dodge one of the most common craniofacial malformations, i.e., hypodontia!
Maximum tooth and gum infections are caused due to bacteria and cavities. Thus, it’s a prerequisite to maintain dental hygiene for good oral health. You need to take the “back to basics” approach here. You know about brushing twice a day, flossing once a day, and using mouthwash.
But how many of you practice this oral hygiene routine daily? It’s time to bring all these good habits into practice to enjoy a healthy mouth.
It’s imperative to meet your dentist at regular intervals. They can check for any underlying condition and treat it timely. For instance, dental health issue such as gum disease and bruxism needs to be taken care of immediately to protect the strength of your teeth.
This way, your infection or dental health issue won’t reach the stage of missing teeth. Regular professional dental cleaning is also instrumental in maintaining good oral health.
Ask any dentist! They will tell you that these 2 are the common culprits for deteriorating oral health in most people. Regular consumption of alcohol and tobacco can cause oral health conditions such as gum diseases, tooth decay, and even cancer.
Overconsumption of these toxic substances hampers good oral health by disrupting the balance of bacteria in your mouth.
Teeth grinding or bruxism is a condition in which you grind your teeth unknowingly. Bruxism may cost you your teeth if not treated on time. But this condition often arises in sleep. Thus it may go on without your knowledge for a long time. So be aware of its symptoms, such as damage to teeth, gums, and inner cheeks.
A special mouth guard can protect your teeth from the damage of gnashing against each other. This may work until your dentist entirely cures you of bruxism.
If you or your kids are born with a missing tooth, you can’t do anything about that. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t prevent your remaining teeth. Hypodontia treatments such as dental implants and dentures support your ligaments and jawbone.
These treatments prevent your other teeth from crumbling or changing their position, causing malocclusion. Don’t ignore a single missing tooth to avoid bite issues and other dental health problems in the future.
Parting Words
If you think that life can go on without one or two missing teeth, you can’t be more wrong. It doesn’t matter if your missing teeth are visible to others. It has the potential to create dental problems.
Some common risks of missing teeth are bone loss, other teeth loss, a misaligned bite, etc. So don’t take hypodontia lightly. Follow these 5 preventive measures diligently and visit your dentist for further guidance.
Author Bio:
Creating perfect smiles is what Dr. Satish Pai is committed to. An orthodontist by profession, he believes that a perfect smile is a powerful part of a person’s personality. When he is not working hard on perfecting his patients’ smiles at Putnam Ortho, he is busy writing engaging articles about everything related to healthy and perfect smiles. His other passions include golf, yoga and surfing. Spending time with his family always brings a smile on his face.
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