Toothlessness
The jaw in an edentulous area undergoes further resorption even after the teeth are gone; and the insertion of dental implants can elicit new bone formation, leading to osseointegration.
Meanwhile, bacteria and yeasts of the oral cavity and the immune system of their host create an immensely complicated and constantly changing interplay that presents clinically as gingivitis, caries, stomatitis, and other periodontal pathology.
[1] When an individual's mouth is at rest, the teeth in the opposing jaws are nearly touching; there is what is referred to as a "freeway space" of roughly 2–3 mm.
Additionally, the anterior teeth, when present, serve to properly support the lips and provide for certain aesthetic features, such as an acute nasiolabial angle.
Loss of muscle tone and skin elasticity due to old age, when most individuals begin to experience edentulism, tend to further exacerbate this condition.
The tongue, which consists of a very dynamic group of muscles, tends to fill the space it is allowed, and in the absence of teeth, will broaden out.
If this situation is left untreated for many years, the muscles and tendons of the mandible and the TMJ may manifest with altered tone and elasticity.
The alveolar ridges are columns of bone that surround and anchor the teeth and run the entire length, mesiodistally, of both the maxillary and mandibular dental arches.
[3] In addition to this resorption of bone in the vertical and anterioposterior dimensions, the alveolus also resorbs faciolingually, thus diminishing the width of the ridge.
Those individuals who do wear dentures can decrease the amount of bone loss by retaining some tooth roots in the form of overdenture abutments or have implants placed.
[citation needed] The biting force on the gum tissue irritates the bone and it melts away with a decrease in volume and density.
The bone loss also results in a significant decrease in chewing force, prompting many denture and partial wearers to avoid certain kinds of food.
Chewing also allows food to be prepared into small boli that are more readily swallowed than haphazard chunks of considerable size.
For those who are even partially endentulous, it may become extremely difficult to chew food efficiently enough to swallow comfortably, although this is entirely dependent upon which teeth are lost.
As a consequence of a lack of certain nutrition due to altered eating habits, various health problems can occur, from the mild to the extreme.
Lack of certain vitamins (A, E and C) and low levels of riboflavin and thiamin can produce a variety of conditions, ranging from constipation, weight loss, arthritis and rheumatism.
Characteristics include: This classification level is where surgical revision of supporting structures is needed to allow for adequate prosthodontic function.
Major conditions requiring preprosthetic surgery Edentulism affects approximately 158 million people globally as of 2010 (2.3% of the population).
It can be stated that the need for prosthodontics care is expected to increase with age, and hence, more efforts should be made for improving dental education and motivation among patients.
