Missing teeth don't just leave gaps in your smile. They alter your facial structure. Missing molars; for example, the teeth in the back of your mouth, cause your cheeks to become sunken. Moreover, when you lose a tooth, your body begins to dissolve the bone once used to hold that tooth in its socket. As a result, your jaw shrinks, creating wrinkles around your mouth.

Your Teeth Support Your Face

A person with a full set of teeth will probably look younger than one with several missing teeth. That's because your teeth support the muscles and skin of your face. They do this in two ways. Posterior teeth, such as the premolars and molars in the back of your mouth, support your cheeks. In other words, your cheeks rest on those teeth. No teeth means no support.

Additionally, no matter where a tooth is lost, the bone loss that occurs afterwards will reduce facial height. To understand how tooth loss causes aging, imagine a tent that is missing one of its supporting poles. That side of the tent is sunken. What would happen if you cut two of those supporting poles in half? The tent would shrink. The same thing happens to your face.

Dental Implants Restore Facial Shape

The global anti-aging market is expected to expand by around $80 billion by the year 2021. However, while anti-aging creams and the like are effective at combating wrinkles, they need to applied constantly. Moreover, since issues like sunken cheeks, witch's chin and marionette lines are caused by missing teeth, replacing those teeth would be a more permanent solution.

In the case of sunken cheeks, one or more dental implants can give cheeks back their former fullness. Since the cheeks now rest upon those dental implants and crowns, they are no longer depressed. Moreover, the titanium rods upon which the crowns rest, stimulate bone reformation. Subsequently, lost facial height is restored.

Bone Grafts Restore Lost Bone

Since bone loss occurs quite rapidly after tooth loss, some patients may not have enough bone to support dental implants. The speed of jawbone resorption differs from person to person. This means that for some people, their face noticeably shrinks within just a few months.

Most of the bone loss occurs in the lower jaw, causing the chin to protrude (witch's chin) and wrinkles to form around the mouth (marionette lines). Fortunately, dentists can extract bone from the area of jawbone where the wisdom teeth are located. They then graft this bone onto the areas into which they will later place the dental implants.

Botox Can Complement Dental Implants

Although dental implants do restore lost facial height and shape, they won't remove existing wrinkles. They will, however,  reduce the severity of wrinkles and prevent them from worsening. Once your implants have healed then, you can then use Botox to complement your dental implants.

By injecting Botox into the areas where wrinkling has occurred, a dentist can soften those wrinkles. Botox works by stopping the muscles that create wrinkles from contracting. However, you will need to repeat your Botox injections 2-3 times per year to keep wrinkles from returning.

You'll See Results in 3-6 Months

After your dentist places the titanium rods into your jawbone, it should take from 3 to 6 months for them to heal. Once they are integrated with your jawbone, your dentist will place the crowns onto the implant abutments. You will then be free to enjoy your newly restored facial structure and the confidence that comes with it.

If tooth loss has caused you to look much older than you really are, consider dental implants. In 6 months time, you could realistically take 10-20 years off your face. Who would have thought that replacing teeth could have such a beneficial effect on your appearance?