Our teeth are very useful.
They allow us to cut and chew all sorts of food, from fruit and vegetables to tough pieces
of steak.
They also kick start the digestive process, which gives us the energy we need to live.
In the adult human mouth, there are 4 different types of teeth: 8 sharp incisors, used for
cutting into the food, 4 pointed canines, used for stabbing the more stubborn morsels
on our dinner plate, 8 premolars, with a bumpy surface used for chewing food, and 12 additional
molars, with a bumpy surface used for chewing food to a pulp.
Teeth are essential to survival, so what would happen if you didn’t have any?
That’s what we’ll be exploring today, in this episode of The Infographics Show:
What If All Your Teeth Fell Out?
Your teeth are held securely in place by their roots in the jawbone.
But disease, decay, or even an accident, can lead to the loss of all of a person’s teeth.
And with no roots in place, the jawbone will begin to resorb or shrink, because it no longer
serves the purpose that nature intended.
When all teeth are missing, the entire jaw shrinks and thins.
Life with no teeth sounds pretty dismal.
You likely won’t want to smile at people and it would be a blow to your self-confidence.
And these are only small issues compared to the consequences of not being able to eat,
chew and digest your food properly.
Eating with no teeth might sound possible.
I mean, the jawbone is hard and could surely grind up your food right?
Maybe not…teeth are specifically designed to do the job of cutting and grinding food.
Here are just a few of the health risks you will likely face if you try to eat your meals
with a toothless mouth.
Gum disease - Gum disease is one of the most common causes of tooth loss.
And poor dental hygiene is one of the strongest risk factors for gum disease.
But if your teeth are all gone, that doesn’t mean the gum disease will subside.
In fact, trying to chew food on bare gums will likely lead to further complications
and increased infection.
Teeth are designed to bite into food, but the jawbone alone is not.
The bite force of a tooth is about 250 pounds, while that of dentures is just below 100 pounds.
So imagine applying that kind of pressure directly to the gums on your toothless jawbone.
Temporomandibular joint – The temporomandibular joints are the two joints connecting the jawbone
to the skull.
If you’re trying to eat food without teeth, and applying the pressure that the teeth would
normally take, then that pressure is unevenly distributed and this increases the chances
of complications developing, as the joints that hold the jaw in place will take the brunt
of the impact.
Bone resorption - When you lose teeth, your jawbone will also shrink as the bone mass
reduces; this is called bone resorption.
Bone resorption happens to the elderly, to astronauts, and to individuals who have lost
teeth.
When bone resorbs, the jaw contours tend to shrink, which can result in wrinkled lips
and a sunken mouth and face.
This can make you appear older.
And without teeth or dentures, pressure on the jawbone can weaken it, making it more
prone to fractures.
Lack of saliva - Digestion starts in the mouth, and saliva is a key element in the digestion
process because it helps lubricate the food as well as deliver enzymes that help break
it down.
Proper chewing activates the salivary glands, but when you have no teeth, you cannot chew
properly, and so you produce less saliva and the digestion process is hindered.
Gastrointestinal complications – And for digestion to be kick started properly, food
also has to be broken down into small pieces so the surface area is increased for enzyme
action.
But if food is not properly broken down, this process will be incomplete, which results
in digestion issues.
Essential elements that your body requires from food such as nutrients are not properly
released and your body will not be able to be utilize them.
Even a single missing tooth in the mouth can cause digestive issues, so imagine the risk
of trying to eat normally with a completely toothless mouth.
Improper enzyme production – Similarly, when you eat with missing teeth, your digestive
system will not efficiently produce the required enzymes necessary for breaking food down completely.
This is because chewing stimulates the taste receptors in the mouth, which then sends a
message to the digestive system to start producing acids and enzymes that are required for proper
digestion.
So if the chewing process is hindered by a lack of teeth, your food will run through
the digestive system without being properly broken down and absorbed.
Ok, so that’s a few things to be concerned about, but just how bad for your health is
losing your teeth?
According to research recently published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology,
a study of more than 15,000 patients from 39 countries, found that levels of tooth loss
were associated with increasing death rates.
Compared to a test group of people with all of their teeth, the group with no teeth had
a 27% increased risk of major heart problems, 85% increased risk of death due to heart condition,
8% increased risk of all-cause death, and 67% increased risk of stroke.
But as terrible as all the news seems to be, you don’t have to live with no teeth.
There are very many viable options in modern dentistry to fix the issue.
Implants, mini implants, dentures, and bridges are all-available and will give you the look,
feel and functionality of natural teeth.
No one is better known for having a toothless smile than “Fairy-tale of New-York” musician,
Shane McGowan, yet even he went for dental implants in 2016, giving him a fresh look
and demonstrating what a remarkable difference having teeth can make.
So, have you ever lost one or more of your teeth?
Did it make life trickier?
Which fix did you go for?
Let us know in the comments.
Also be sure to check out our other video called What If You Didn’t See Sunlight for
a Year.
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!