The everyday activities that you perform: biting and chewing, tasting food, talking, smiling, expressing feelings and feeling confident, are all tied to the functions of teeth, the mouth and overall oral health.
When all is well with your teeth and gums, you can enjoy all the foods you like and smile broadly. Thanks to this confidence, you can maximise on social engagements and professional opportunities.
The reverse also holds true – poor oral health can rob you of many of the pleasures that influence quality of life. When oral health is compromised, this can reduce the quality of life you lead. For example, the resultant pain and discomfort in the mouth as a consequence of tooth loss or infection can impact how well you can eat, speak, socialise or function in everyday life.
As an entrance to the rest of the body, even oral infections, particularly chronic ones, can spread to areas deep in the body. Scientific studies have shown strong links between infections starting in the mouth making their way to other more vulnerable areas, affecting the heart and lungs. Mouth infections have been known to cause strokes, and premature births in addition to low birth weight.
Missing or lost adult teeth provide the perfect example of the challenges you can experience that result in you experiencing less joy in your life. When teeth are lost due to decay or trauma to the face, the patient will find that masticatory functions become a challenge, speech impediments may become evident and the aesthetics of one’s dental appearance becomes less than desirable.
A major risk of the eating challenges presented is malnutrition. The elderly are the most likely age group to experience malnutrition, as it is quite common for the elderly to have lost some of their adult teeth by the time they reach the advanced years. Age UK estimates that one in ten adults aged 65 are at risk of being malnourished. A poor diet lacking in an adequate intake of proper nutrients can be the cause of poor health and can lead to increased hospital admissions, as well as long-term health problems.
Another adverse impact of poor oral health or dental disease is on a person’s social life. Persistent pain can lead them to distance or isolate from others and an unattractive dental appearance may cause them to avoid social contact. Mouth and teeth are critical to both verbal and non-verbal communication, so it stands to reason that any impaired functioning can affect self-esteem, with further negative consequences on social and employment opportunities.
Appliances to resolve missing teeth work to restore oral health and overall quality of life
Dental prostheses, of which dental implants Navan are one example, are artificial devices that are used to replicate the function of lost natural teeth. In mouth rehabilitation, an artificial tooth replacement device will address oral function (masticatory), natural appearance (in the case of artificial tooth implants) and promote the health of teeth, gums and jawbone.