Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Tooth Loss
Introduction
Tooth loss is defined as the premature loss of teeth. Tooth loss is normal for deciduous teeth (baby teeth), when they are replaced by a person’s adult teeth. Otherwise, losing teeth is undesirable and is the result of injury or disease, such as mouth trauma, tooth injury, tooth decay, and gum disease.
The condition of being toothless or missing one or more teeth, is called edentulism.
Differential Diagnosis of Causes of Tooth Loss
Differential Diagnosis of Causes of Tooth Loss
In alphabetical order. [1] [2]
- Accident
- Acromegaly
- Actalasia
- Chediak-Higashi Syndrome
- Chronic neutropenia
- Cholera
- Cyclic neutropenia
- Dentin dysplasia
- Diabetes Mellitus
- Down’s Syndrome
- Drugs
- Hand-Schuller-Christian Syndrome
- Histiocytosis X
- Hypophosphotasia
- Hypophosphtemic vitamin D resistant rickets
- Hypopituitarism
- Hypothyroidism
- Leptospirosis
- Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome
- Leukemia
- Local tumor
- Lymphoma
- Odontodysplasia
- Osteomyelitis
- Papillon-Lefevre Syndrome
- Periodontitis
- Primary Hypothyroidism
- Psychosis
- Radiation
- Reticulosis
- Syphillis
- Tuberculosis
- Vitamin C deficiency
Prevention of tooth loss
Prevention of tooth loss
Tooth loss due to tooth decay and gum disease may be prevented by practicing good oral hygiene, and regular check-ups (twice per year) at the dentist‘s office.
In contact sports, risk of mouth trauma and tooth injury is reduced by wearing mouthguards and helmets with a facemask (e.g., football helmet, and goalie mask).
Missing tooth replacement
Missing tooth replacement
There are three basic ways to replace a missing tooth or teeth, including a fixed dental bridge, dentures, and dental implants.
References
References
Editor-In-Chief: Template:Search infobox C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]