What Causes Bone Loss?
Bone loss is a common outcome of a lost tooth and chronic gum disease. In the case of gum disease, the infection gradually destroys the underlying jawbone and the periodontal ligaments that connect each tooth to the jawbone.
The most common cause of bone loss is not replacing a missing tooth, even more so if more than one. The jawbone is preserved through the continuous pressures and stimulus of biting and chewing. When this stimulation is removed through tooth loss, the bone atrophies and reabsorbs into the body. In the first year following a tooth extraction the bone loses 25%, and it continues from there.
What is Bone Loss
This bone loss happens in the bone surrounding and supporting the tooth, called the alveolar bone. The alveolar bone forms the ridges in which the tooth roots are embedded. These ridges will atrophy both vertically and horizontally.
Replacing missing teeth with either full or partial dentures does not solve the problem as the dentures rest on the gums and exert a ridiculously small amount of chewing pressure on the bone as compared to your natural teeth.
Removal of the molars in the upper jaw will cause additional resorption of the bone from the expansion of the sinus cavity. With the teeth missing, the air pressure in the sinus cavity will cause resorption of the bone lining your sinuses.
Other Causes of Bone Loss
Bone loss can also be the result of misaligned teeth, creating a situation where the normal chewing pressures do not occur, causing loss of the needed stimulus to the bone.
Bone loss can be caused through infection that damages the bone.
A tumor or cyst may require removal and therefore resulting in bone loss.
Bone Loss and Traditional Dentures
Dentures can actually accelerate bone loss by wearing away at the ridges they are placed on. Every time you bite down or clench your teeth you are putting pressure on these ridges, resulting in its resorption. This is a primary cause of getting dentures to fit properly, of sore spots and uncomfortable chewing.
If you wear dentures you can experience another consequence of bone loss, the collapse or sagging of the lower third of your face.
The loss of your ridge bone will bring your chin closer to your nose, causing your jaw to protrude out and your nose will appear to stick out further because your upper lip has now puckered in. Deep wrinkles can appear around your mouth and the cheeks develop sagging skin. This facial collapse will add years to your age.
Preventing Bone Loss
Bone loss can be easily prevented by giving the jawbone a replacement tooth with an artificial root that will exert the same or similar pressure as a natural tooth. This should be done immediately after extraction by replacing the tooth with a dental implant, or by using a fixed implant-supported bridge or denture.
A single-tooth implant or a dental bridge supported by implants provide a chewing power of 99% of your natural bite force. A denture secured with dental implants, provides about 70% to 80% of normal biting force and helps considerably in preventing bone loss.