By Frankenmuth Family Dental - Piesko & Lennan DDS
October 10, 2021
Category: Oral Health
Tags: loose tooth  
YouNeedtoActFasttoSaveaLooseTooth

Some things in life are almost guaranteed to make you go, "Uh, oh"—your car won't start, your a/c goes out, or, worse yet, you get an unexpected letter from the IRS.

Here's another: One of your teeth is loose. And, if you don't act quickly, that loose tooth may soon become a lost tooth.

But first, we need to find out why it's loose. It's usually due to one of two types of injury related to your bite. One type is called primary occlusal trauma. This results from your teeth encountering higher than normal biting forces. This often happens if you habitually gnash or grind your teeth together outside of normal functions like eating or speaking.

The other type is secondary occlusal trauma. In this case, the supporting gum tissues and bone have been weakened or lost by disease, with the gum tissues possibly becoming detached. Without this support, even normal biting forces could loosen a tooth.

Our treatment approach for a loose tooth may differ depending on which of these is the cause. For primary occlusal trauma, we want to reduce the biting forces that have contributed to loosening the tooth. One way to do this is to create a mouthguard that when worn prevents teeth from making solid contact during grinding episodes.

For secondary trauma, we want to first focus on treating any gum disease responsible for weakening the gum tissues. Once we have it under control, the gums and bone tissues can heal and possibly regain and strengthen their attachment with the tooth.

At the same time, we may also need to stabilize a loose tooth to prevent its loss. This usually involves splinting, whereby we use neighboring healthy teeth to support the loose tooth. One way to do this is to attach a metal strip across the backs of the loose tooth and its more stable neighbors, or by way of a channel cut through the top biting surfaces of the teeth.

If a loose tooth regains its attachment with the gums and bone, it may stabilize and any splinting can be removed. If not, splinting may become a permanent solution. Either way, prompt treatment can help us save your loose tooth.

If you would like more information on treating loose teeth, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Loose Teeth: Biting Forces Can Loosen Teeth.”

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 Frankenmuth Family Dental 
1025 W Genesee St.
Frankenmuth, MI 48734
(989) 652-6196

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15741 Gratiot Road
Hemlock MI  48626
(989) 642-2750

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