A Patient’s Guide to Preventing Tooth Loss

Mastering your own oral healthcare can be hard work. Without taking the right steps regularly, it can be easy to end up with an unhealthy mouth: cavities, staining, gum disease, and, eventually, tooth loss. Tooth loss can wreak havoc on your overall health and well-being. However, you don't have to feel overwhelmed about the prospect of keeping your teeth, gums, tongue, and palette clean and healthy over time - or worried about your potential inability to properly care for your mouth, despite your best efforts. In reality, all it takes is learning a few oral care best practices in order to prevent tooth loss.

Dental care is a multi-part process. Your dentist is in charge of doing regular professional cleanings and work. It is your job to both visit the dentist regularly and maintain a regular schedule of routine oral maintenance. If you want to ensure tooth loss prevention, even as you age, learn the basics of dental care, what tooth loss treatment looks like if you think you might be at risk of losing a tooth (or teeth), and how to manage oral health challenges as they arise. Then, put what you learned into action - so you'll have a smile you feel proud of for years to come.

The Dangers of Tooth Loss

Losing a tooth may be an aesthetically unappealing idea to you. However, adult tooth loss poses far more risks than simply putting a hole in your smile. First, when there are spaces between your teeth, they tend to shift. Losing a tooth may cause all of your teeth to shift, causing crookedness or crowding. Next, your gums may begin to recede if you've lost a tooth. This can not only make the teeth around the receded gum vulnerable to plaque and bacteria (and generally weaker), but can also lead to potential gum disease, which can spread throughout your gums (and not just in the spot where you lost the tooth). A tooth lost as an adult can also cause your jawbone to shrink.

How to Prevent Tooth Loss

1. Stay on top of dental hygiene. Dental hygiene includes many steps, like brushing and flossing your teeth daily, going to the dentist regularly, and even asking your dentist to show you how to floss properly. If you make dental hygiene a focus in your life and part of your daily routine, you can greatly decrease the chances you'll lose a tooth as an adult.
2. Avoid tobacco. Don't just stay away from cigarettes because they cause cancer. Avoid them (and all other forms of tobacco) because they are terrible for your teeth. Studies show that smokers lose twice as many teeth as non-smokers.
3. Choose foods and drinks carefully. Some foods and drinks are simply terrible for your dental health. These things include dark-colored soft drinks, sugary candy, and alcoholic beverages. Eat a tooth-friendly diet for tooth loss prevention. This doesn't only mean avoiding certain foods; it also means incorporating foods good for your teeth, like crunchy vegetables, which stimulate gums and get rid of debris stuck on your teeth.
4. Take care of your body and focus on wellness. While some accidents and injuries can't be avoided, you can do your part to ensure you protect your body (and teeth) in your daily life. For example, make sure you wear a mouthguard when you play sports, don't open “stuck” lids using your teeth, and lower your stress levels so you decrease the chances you grind your teeth at night. Some people may lose a tooth in an accident or injury, but you can do your best to minimize the chances of that happening to you.
5. Pay attention to dry mouth. Dry mouth isn't only annoying. It can also be dangerous for your teeth since a lack of saliva can lead to a buildup of bacteria on your teeth and gums, gum disease, and, ultimately, tooth loss. Dry mouth can be the sign of a more serious health condition or a side effect of a medication, but there are medications and treatments for chronic dry mouth, and it is worth addressing if you experience it regularly.

Worried About Tooth Loss? Seek Out Dental Care

If you are worried that you may be experiencing tooth loss, or if you have already lost a tooth, the best thing you can do is seek out professional care. Oral Surgery DC has excellent oral surgeons who specialize in helping people with issues surrounding tooth loss. The team at Oral Surgery DC can help you take care of your dental health for improved well-being and quality of life. So, reach out to us today. We have solutions that can ensure your teeth don't shift, you don't get gum disease or lose more teeth, and that you stay confident about your smile.