Modern dentistry has seen a huge shift in how dental and oral health relates to overall health. The most important piece of advice I remember from one of my clinical mentors during dental school was “Always remember that I am treating a whole person in the mouth.” Tooth loss is directly related to health impacts, which speaks volumes about the importance of oral care.
It’s a simple statement, but it still hits home with me today, nearly seven years after graduation.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. How does tooth loss affect a person’s physical, mental, and social well-being? Tooth loss is closely related to health impacts.
Tooth loss can impact physical health in a number of ways. The initial local impact of a missing tooth is to the mouth, causing other teeth to shift, either maxillary, mesial, or distal.
In 1993, a study conducted by A. Van Der Bilt et al. concluded that patients with missing posterior canines showed significant differences in chewing efficiency and performance compared to intact dentition controls, especially when more than five (5) teeth were missing.
Nutrition is a key factor in overall physical health, and tooth loss combined with reduced chewing ability can result in patients being unable to obtain the nutrients they need from a variety of foods. This, in turn, can affect their overall emotional and physical well-being.
Tooth decay, osteoporosis, and periodontal disease caused by tooth loss are associated with other conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and osteoporosis. These findings clearly demonstrate the impact of tooth loss on health.
The psychological effects of tooth loss require further research. There are conflicting studies in this area, but many studies and clinicians agree that there is a link between tooth loss and mental health.
A systematic review conducted by Zaki Kudsi et al. in 2020 found six studies that showed that a significant number of patients had difficulty accepting tooth loss, lacked self-confidence, and had emotional distress related to tooth loss. They concluded that tooth loss may trigger psychological disorders (e.g., depression) in some patients, but there is a lack of available tools suitable for screening and measuring psychological disorders in these patients.
The same systematic review by Kudsi et al. also concluded that tooth loss has a significant impact on functional activities and social interactions. According to a 2021 study published in the Indian Journal of Forensic and Toxicology, the link between tooth loss and social impact increased as the tooth loss was closer to the anterior teeth or in the aesthetic area. In the same study, they found that speech disorders (or distorted speech) were also more prevalent in patients with tooth loss.
Tooth loss can affect a person and prevent them from having healthy and normal social interactions in their personal lives. It can also undermine their confidence in their professional lives, both in their current job and in interviews for future positions.
As dental clinicians, we must explain to our patients the importance of replacing missing teeth in our daily practice as it relates to their overall physical, mental, and social well-being.
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