Episode 7: Where Did the Bone Go? Understanding Tooth Loss and Jaw Shrinkage

Welcome to Trust Your Teeth, a podcast by K Y T Dental Services. In our Essentials series, we explain the science behind good dentistry, so you can make smarter decisions... and avoid the mistakes most people don’t see coming. Today’s topic: Where did the bone go? What happens to your jaw after you lose a tooth... and why waiting to fix it could cost you more than you think. Let’s break it down. When you chew, pressure travels down the tooth... into the bone underneath. That pressure tells your body, Hey, we need this bone. Keep it strong. But when a tooth is lost? That signal disappears. And your body says, Well... I guess we don’t need that bone anymore. It begins a slow process called bone resorption. The bone starts to shrink. At first, it’s subtle. But within the first year, up to twenty five percent of the width can disappear. Over time, the height follows too. And now? Replacing that tooth gets a lot harder. Dental implants, the gold standard, require strong bone to stay stable. If the bone’s gone? You may need additional procedures... like bone grafts... or sinus lifts... just to make space for an implant to work. And it’s not just about implants. Bone loss affects your entire face. The lips lose support... The cheeks start to sink... The jawline collapses inward. Even if your skin looks great, bone loss can age your appearance in ways makeup or skincare can’t fix. And here’s the part no one tells you: The longer you wait, the more bone you lose. It’s not that you waited too long. It’s that bone resorption never stops. So what can you do? If you’ve just lost a tooth, or know one might need to come out soon, talk to your dentist about bone preservation. There are procedures that can protect the bone, even if you’re not ready for an implant today. Think of it as holding the door open. Because when you preserve bone early, you save options later. And if you’ve already lost bone? It’s not hopeless. Modern grafting techniques can rebuild lost volume. But it takes time. It takes planning. And it starts with knowing what’s happening underneath the surface. In our next episode, a True Case, we meet someone who lost a molar... and ignored it. He thought he could just fix it later. But when later came? There was no bone left to fix. What happened next might surprise you. Because trusting your teeth... starts with knowing the truth.