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When it comes to personal features, a smile is one of the first aspects that we will notice about another individual. On top of that, a person’s smile can often leave a lasting impression for other people we meet. With all of this in mind, it’s no surprise to find out that losing one or more teeth can change the way others view you and the way you will view yourself. This lowered self-confidence is enough to affect all aspects of an individual’s life. Whether it includes work life or social relationships, tooth loss can negatively impact the quality of life a person enjoys. For many of our patients here in Waterloo, ON, dental implants are a great solution to give them back a smile they can feel confident with. Taking the step to begin your dental implant process is a great way to overcome the emotional turmoil patients feel when experiencing tooth loss. Dr. K. Ashraf explains how tooth loss has an emotional impact on patients and how restoring your smile with dental implants can positively affect your confidence and overall quality of life.
Emotional Stages of Tooth Loss
Although we focus on the negative aesthetics of a smile with missing gaps, we often forget about the emotional trauma that can accompany tooth loss. It’s often been reported that the loss of a tooth can be quite similar to the emotional response you would expect from an individual that has lost a body part or the death of a friend or family member. The emotional pattern of these individuals will generally go as follows:
- Disbelief or Denial: Patients will have trouble coming to terms with the reality of tooth loss. In many cases, patients will either try to forget about the problem or just deny tooth loss has occurred altogether.
- Anger: Patients will typically be upset with themselves over tooth loss or feel anger toward a dentist for being unable to save a tooth.
- Depression: This particular stage can often go on for quite a while. Patients will feel as though the world is ending and can feel hopeless about dealing with their tooth loss.
- Acceptance: The final emotional stage of tooth loss is acceptance. Although it’s emotionally healthy to work through your feelings about tooth loss, it isn’t great for your oral health to leave it untreated. Coming to terms with your tooth loss should be the first step to begin your restoration process. Leaving tooth loss untreated can lead to loss of your surrounding teeth, which will spur on this same emotional cycle.
Depression and Anxiety Linked to Tooth Loss
As you can see, tooth loss is quite an emotional rollercoaster; These different stages of dealing with tooth loss can result in several behavioral changes. Changes in behavior can mean less social interaction with others, trouble forming close relationships and difficulty with romantic relationships. One of the stand-out responses to tooth loss is depression and anxiety, which can affect an individual in their personal and professional life.
Researchers from West Virginia University, Morgantown, have been able to scientifically prove the link between depression or anxiety and tooth loss. After analyzing research from the Centers for Disease Control, researchers found that individuals with tooth loss are more likely to be diagnosed with depression or anxiety. The study found that women, in particular, have a link between not visiting the dentist and depression. In fact, researchers found that women who did not visit the dentist within the past year were 29% more likely to experience depression than women who regularly visit the dentist.
Although it’s hard to say what causes the other, there’s a definite correlation between depression and tooth loss. Depression can be a result of tooth loss due to lack of self-confidence and damaged relationships or vice versa. Tooth loss can be a result of depression because individuals suffering from depression are less likely to focus on self-care and oral health.
Improve Happiness and Quality of Life with Dental Implants
Now that we know how tooth loss can affect the mental health of an individual, let’s take a look at how we can remedy the situation. For most of our patients here in Waterloo, we recommend dental implants to give them a healthy, complete smile. Dental implants are the most natural-looking option for patients who want to restore their smile. This restoration option allows for patient’s to enjoy a restoration that looks, feels, and acts just like natural teeth. Restoring an individual’s smile can encourage them to smile more, which has been proven to have many benefits including:
- Smiling can improve your mood
- Reduce stress
- Trigger feel-good brain chemicals
- Appear more likable to others
- Cause others to smile too
Contact our Office in Waterloo, ON
If you’re on the fence about restoring your smile, think about all of the negative emotional effects you can deal with along with the positive effects of smiling that you will enjoy with a restored smile. Dental implants won’t just improve your oral health, it can also affect the overall quality of your life and relationships with others. Enjoy a beautiful, restored smile for years to come with the high-quality dental implants Dr. K Ashraf offers for his patients here in Waterloo. Interested in starting your dental implant process? Contact our office today to schedule your one-on-one consultation with Dr. Ashraf.