If You're Missing All Your Teeth
When you're missing all your teeth, the only way to restore most of your mouth function is with dental implants. In the past, removable full dentures were considered an adequate solution, because it's the best we could do. The problems with removable dentures are:
- They can't restore even 25 percent of your eating efficiency.
- They move around in your mouth, often creating sore spots and difficulty eating and speaking.
- When your teeth are missing, your body senses that and begins to absorb the minerals in the bone for use elsewhere in the body. This results in a condition called facial collapse.
- Loss of confidence.
 Here is an illustration of facial collapse. Notice how the entire lower face, from the nose to the chin, is shorter. Notice also how the lips are sunken in, and how facial lines are accentuated.
After a number of years, people who have lost all their teeth will become dental cripples - unable to eat, self-conscious, unable to retain a conventional denture because their jaws have shrunk and there is nothing for the denture to rest on.
The good news is that there are a number of options for restoring your mouth. We have a page where we list the dental implant options - you may want to consult that page. Here is a brief list of those options for people who have lost all of their teeth:
Piezoelectric effect
When teeth or dental implants are present in the jaw, they stimulate the bone and keep it from dissolving away. This is called the piezoelectric effect. To read more about this effect, please see our page on the piezoelectric effect.
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