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Little Rock, AR 72209 (501) 565-1574
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Why You Need to Replace Missing Teeth

July 19, 2017

Filed under: Dental Emergency,Dental Implants,Oral Hygiene — lrfamily @ 9:00 am

According to the American College of Prosthodontists, about 178 million people in the United States are missing at least one tooth and these numbers are expected to grow within the next two decades. It is very important to always replace a tooth that you have lost as soon as possible. It is more than just about the way you look. Rather, it is about the health of your mouth, jaw, and body, which are all designed to work together at peak performance.

When you have a tooth that is missing, this can cause many problems including:

Tooth shifting

Your jaw has space for and is designed to operate with 28 teeth. If one of those placeholders fall out, then the surrounding teeth begin to shift to fill this empty space, resulting in all of your teeth being moved out of alignment. This can cause a biting problem because when the lower and upper jaws don’t meet properly, it can strain and damage the jaw joint. In some cases, the remaining teeth can super erupt and cause increased sensitivity to temperature extremes and sweets. (more…)

What is an Abscessed Tooth?

July 10, 2017

Filed under: Crowns and Bridges,Dental Emergency,Oral Hygiene,Uncategorized — lrfamily @ 2:56 pm

An abscessed tooth occurs when bacteria causes an infection in your gums and even inside your teeth. This creates a pocket of pus that is unable to drain, therefore becoming swollen and painful. This is known as an abscess and it acts as a barrier around the infection to stop its spread. However, if left untreated, the bacterial infection can escalate to other parts of the mouth and affect your overall health.

There are two different kinds of abscesses, including:

  • Periodontal abscess — An infection between the tooth and gum usually caused by food getting trapped there and poor cleaning of the teeth to get that food debris out. In severe cases, the bacteria can build up and affect the bone.
  • Periapical abscess — An infection inside the tooth pulp. The pulp is the soft tissue and nerves inside of the root canal, and it can succumb to an infection and begin to die. This type of abscess can also spread to the surrounding bone.

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