The good thing about your healthy, natural adult teeth is that, with the right care and maintenance, you have an excellent chance at keeping them for life. That chance has grown significantly for many people as dental technologies and hygiene techniques have advanced over the years. However, while the rates of adult tooth loss have dropped in that time, it hasn’t reached zero percent, and tooth loss still remains a threat for many people. That’s often because losing one or more teeth is the result of an underlying concern that they didn’t realize had gotten so bad, or that wasn’t preventable with routine dental health care.

It’s the result of something else

Because things like tooth decay, gum disease, and tooth loss remain a concern despite the advanced state of dental hygiene and care, some people may assume that these conditions are natural occurrences. In the case of tooth loss, especially, people can often mistake it as just a part of the aging process, and believe that they’re bound to lose a tooth sooner or later. The truth, however, is that your teeth aren’t just able to last for a lifetime, they’re meant to. When you lose one, it’s the result of an underlying concern with your overall oral health, and in many cases, that concern is something that could have been prevented or treated and managed earlier.

That something may not be obvious

Despite dental conditions being a thing still, the use of more advanced dental techniques and technologies has allowed people to overcome significant oral health concerns with often amazing results. The most significant of these results is the ability to restore a severely damaged, broken, or otherwise compromised tooth to perverse it and avoid its loss or extraction. However, not all cases of broken or fractured teeth can be saved, and not all causes of tooth loss involve obvious complications with your tooth structure. In fact, the most frequent cause of tooth loss is severe gum disease, which can often progress into its later stages before the damage to your smile’s foundation becomes obvious.

That reason may not be a preventable one

While conditions like gum disease and other chronic oral health concerns can often be treated and managed before you lose a tooth, there are some cases where the loss or extraction of a tooth isn’t preventable. One of the most common of these include the impaction of your wisdom teeth, or third molars, due to limited space along your dental ridge. Your third molars are the last set of permanent teeth to develop, and if they become impacted within your jawbone before they can erupt, they can lead to several severe oral health concerns. Extracting them could be the only way to avoid these concerns and save your overall oral health.

Learn about your risks of losing teeth

Tooth loss may still be a problem for many people, but that doesn’t mean you can’t prevent it, or reduce your risks of losing more teeth if you’ve already experienced it. To learn more, schedule a consultation by calling the Dental Centre of Conroe in Conroe, TX, today at (936) 441-4600. We serve patients from Conroe and all neighboring communities.