Loose Teeth Due to Bone Loss: Treatment Options & Saving Your Smile

Tooth loss is not inevitable. Modern dentistry and periodontics provide tooth-saving treatments. If you have loose teeth because of bone loss, seeing your dentist is the first step in saving your smile.

The Facts

• Bacteria feed on gum tissue, support ligaments around the teeth and bone (periodontal disease), creating spaces between the tooth sockets and gums (pockets). As these pockets deepen, teeth loosen.

Medications

• The dentist will perform scaling and root planing. He may place medication directly into the pockets around your teeth to aid healing, and you may get a prescription for medicated mouthwash or antibiotics. Pockets around the teeth shrink as the mouth heals.

Surgery

• If the pockets around the teeth do not shrink, the dentist will refer you to a periodontist for deeper gum disease treatment. The periodontist may perform surgery to remove diseased gum tissue and may recommend bone grafts to speed healing and stabilize loose teeth.

Extraction

• In severe cases, the dentist pulls the teeth having the poorest chance of recovery and replaces them with removable prosthetic teeth (partial dentures) or implants. Periodontal treatments may continue to preserve the remaining natural teeth.

Misconceptions

• According to American Academy of Periodontology, gum disease is not contagious, people with gum disease are not filthy and pregnancy does not cause gum disease or loose teeth.