Tooth loss

A young boy after losing two baby teeth, exfoliated in response to the permanent teeth beneath, which will erupt through the gums to take their place.

Tooth loss is when one or more teeth come loose and fall out. Tooth loss is normal for deciduous teeth (baby teeth), when they are replaced by a person's adult teeth. Otherwise, losing teeth is undesirable and is the result of injury or disease, such as mouth trauma, tooth injury, tooth decay, and gum disease. The condition of being toothless or missing one or more teeth, is called edentulism.

Prevention of tooth loss

Tooth loss due to tooth decay and gum disease may be prevented by practicing good oral hygiene, and regular check-ups (twice per year) at the dentist's office.

In contact sports, risk of mouth trauma and tooth injury is reduced by wearing mouthguards and helmets with a facemask (e.g., football helmet, and goalie mask).

Missing tooth replacement

There are three basic ways to replace a missing tooth or teeth, including a fixed dental bridge, dentures, and dental implants.

Research in tooth regeneration

Researchers in Japan have successfully regrown fully functional teeth in mice. Epithelial and mesenchymal cells were extracted from the mice, cultured to produce a tooth "germ," and the germ was then implanted into the bone at the space of a missing tooth. A tooth of the correct external and internal structure, hardness, strength and sensitivity later erupted in the space, eventually meeting the opposing tooth in a manner similar to an original natural tooth. This technique may be a possible future treatment for replacement of missing teeth.^[1]

See also

• Teeth cleaning
  • Tooth brushing
  • Flossing
  • Tongue Cleaning
• Dental surgery
• Wisdom tooth
• Dental Implant
• Periodontist

References

1. ^ [1]Etsuko Ikeda, Ritsuko Morita, Kazuhisa Nakao, Kentaro Ishida, Takashi Nakamura, Teruko Takano-Yamamoto, Miho Ogawa, Mitsumasa Mizuno, Shohei Kasugai, and Takashi Tsuji (2009). "Fully functional bioengineered tooth replacement as an organ replacement therapy". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106 (32): 13475–80. doi:10.1073/pnas.0902944106. PMC 2720406. PMID 19666587. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=2720406. 

External links

• Avulsed tooth: What to do
• Tooth injury

This dentistry article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Dentistry Dentistry stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную? Aquarian Family Festival Luxi City, Yunnan Look at other dictionaries: Tooth eruption — is a process in tooth development in which the teeth enter the mouth and become visible. It is currently believed that the periodontal ligaments play an important role in tooth eruption. Primary (baby) teeth erupt into the mouth from around 6… …   Wikipedia Tooth brushing — is the act of cleaning teeth with a toothbrush.Modern medical research has shown that brushing teeth properly can prevent cavities, gingivitis, and periodontal, or gum disease, which causes at least one third of adult tooth loss. If teeth are not …   Wikipedia Tooth (human) — For other uses of tooth or teeth , see Tooth (disambiguation). Teeth An adult human s teeth …   Wikipedia Tooth — Infobox Anatomy Name = Teeth Caption = An adult human s teeth. Caption2 = CGI posterior view of teeth taken from inside of mouthTeeth (singular, Tooth) are small whitish structures found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates that are used… …   Wikipedia Tooth development — Radiograph of lower right (from left to right) third, second, and first molars in different stages of development. Tooth development or odontogenesis is the complex process by which teeth form from embryonic cells, grow, and erupt into the mouth …   Wikipedia Tooth enamel — Labeled molar Latin enamelum Code TA …   Wikipedia Tooth-billed Pigeon — Conservation status Endangered (IUCN 3.1) …   Wikipedia Tooth erosion — is a gradual loss of the normally hard surface of the tooth due to chemical, not bacterial, processes. Erosion is an eating away of a surface. The word erosion comes from the Latin erodere meaning to eat out …   Medical dictionary tooth — noun 1 individual tooth ADJECTIVE ▪ broken, chipped, missing ▪ bad, decayed, rotten ▪ loose ▪ …   Collocations dictionary tooth wear — a condition in which loss of tooth substance is excessive for the patient s age. It includes attrition, erosion, and abrasion, but the cause is not always obvious …   Medical dictionary 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”