Did You Know?

Knocked out Tooth:

Research has shown that in the U.S. a tooth is knocked out during an injury to the mouth about 16% of the time. It’s important to know that in many cases the tooth can be successfully replanted (saved) if the tooth has come out whole and is not broken. The avulsed (loss) tooth should be implanted into the socket as soon as possible and stabilized until the gingival and the periodontal tissue can heal. It is important not to handle the root surface of the tooth, only handle the tooth by the crown. Do not scrape or brush the root surface of the tooth. The tooth needs to be rinsed off with water to remove any contaminates and then immediately placed back into the socket in the correct position. After two hours outside the socket and if the tooth has been allowed to dry, there is a poor chance of successful reimplantation of the tooth because the cells on the root surface needed for reattaching the tooth begins to die. When immediate reimplantation is not possible the tooth needs to be place in the best transport medium available. Three of the best transport mediums are milk, saline or saliva (in the mouth next to the check). At this point you need to get into the ER or to your dentist as soon as possible to have the tooth placed back into the socket and stabilized to allow the tooth to heal and hopefully reattach.

Bone Loss:

Did you know that when you loose a tooth or have a tooth extracted the bone in that area begins to resorb. The jaw bone is made up of two different types of bones stacked on top of one another.

• The basal bone is what forms the basic dental skeletal structure and on which the muscle attaches to.
• The alveolar bone develops at the same time as the teeth do and then provides the hard tissue support for the teeth. This bone exists only to support and house the teeth.

Teeth are embedded in the alveolar bone and attached by way of a root structure. As with muscle or any other tissue in the human body, the alveolar bone also needs to be used to maintain its shape and overall health. Muscle tissue is maintained by exercise. Alveolar bone is maintained by biting and chewing, which stimulate the root structure and then in turn stimulates the bone that the root is attached to. This is similar to a leg muscle shrinking while it has been in a cast.

When a permanent tooth is removed and not replaced (by a dental implant), bone stimulation stops at that particular site, and the alveolar bone, the structure that anchors the teeth in the mouth, no longer receives this physical stimulation and starts to resorb. The rate of bone loss can very greatly between individuals. The majority happens within the first 18 months after the tooth is removed and then continues at varying degrees.

The jaw and facial bones are the foundation of the soft tissues of the face. The shape and quality of these bones can have a significant influence on the appearance of the face. Some of the side effects of tooth loss and subsequent jaw bone deterioration can affect your appearance in several ways. This includes a collapsed facial profile, reduced lip support, increased wrinkling of the skin around the mouth and the distortion of other facial features. Some other side effects of jaw bone deterioration can also include additional tooth problems such as loosening and loss of adjacent teeth, the drifting/misalignment of the remaining teeth and the over-eruption of the remaining teeth.

If you have worn dentures for several years, you already know about bone loss. The reason your denture doesn’t fit like it did the first year is that you do not have the same jaw bone structure to support it. The dentist needs to reline the denture and then a year or two later you are back again for another reline. The denture has not changed, your jaw bone has. The jaw bone continues to absorb until its difficult to get a denture to fit satisfactorily.