Teeth – The very beginning of the pleasure of eating starts from the mouth. Teeth plays the major role
of grinding the food to form a bolus like structure for swallowing. In an adult out of 32 teeth, 28 are
functional and the molars play the pivotal role of mastication or chewing.
We will try to understand how important is your teeth and how even a single missing or untreated
pathological tooth can create major health issues.
Missing teeth & its consequences – When ever you visit a dentist, s/he focuses on your missing teeth
irrespective of what is your chief complain. Patients may find it weird but a single missing tooth can be
the source of major pathologies for the masticatory ecosystem. Lets understand how.
– Supra eruption – Suppose a mandibular first molar is missing and the patient has a complain of
food deposit and a sharp shooting pain at the opposing maxillary first molar or second molar. On
physical and radiographic examination the dentist comes to a conclusion that the patient have
to go for the endodontic treatment of the maxillary tooth and prosthetic rehabilitation of the
missing tooth. Now the patient may think why the mandibular rehabilitation? I don’t have any
complain over there !! Now the situation has become little complex and the supra eruption has
already played its part. So, if a tooth is missing the opposing tooth will erupt and erupt until it
touches the gum of that empty space. This in turn disturbs the relation of that supra erupted
tooth with its adjacent teeth. This creates pocket and food deposits which usually donot go
away during brushing. This food deposits works like the medium for bacterial growth. The more
the bacterial growth the more production of acid which mildly but continuously etch the enamel
and dentin hence producing deep cavities. These endodontic treatment will only see long term
success if the masticatory balance is completely restored.
– Mesial Drifting – There is a tendency for the adjacent tooth of the missing portion to tilt
towards the missing part. Now this again causes a major imbalance of the masticatory / chewing
ecosystem. The high force of chewing is unequally and improperly distributed. The patient no
more feels comfortable in chewing from this affected side. So this mesial drifting has two
consequences. 1. The adjacent tooth relation is lost, food deposition increases and susceptibility
to caries increases. 2. The patient starts chewing from the other side of the mouth leading to
gross attrition and TM joint problem.
– Improper food digestion – Incomplete mastication don’t grind the food to the point that is
necessary for the gastric juice to work for digestion hence patients often develop gastric irritation.