Face Collapse Syndrome is an extremely distressing state that occurs after having many teeth pulled. American television personality and former model Brandi Glanville is speaking publicly about her ‘sinking face’ rollercoaster experience after having five teeth extracted.
The jawbone and teeth support our cheeks and lips, making us look younger. Lamentably, within the first year after a tooth is removed, 50% of the jawbone that held the tooth in place disappears.
So, if you lose a molar tooth, about two dice-sized chunks of facial bony support are lost. When multiple teeth are lost, the cheeks start looking sucked in, cheek bones flatten, and the overlying skin sags, ageing a person years within a matter of months.
Facial bone loss is even greater if there’s an abscess around the tooth. If you imagine your jawbone like a mountain shape, a tooth abscess leaves a shark-bite hole in the side of the bony mountain, which, if you have ever lost a tooth, you can feel as a dip in the gum.
Over the years, I have seen countless abscesses in people’s mouths that don’t give an ounce of pain. However, the infection is silently leaking into the bloodstream, causing inflammation and disease. When left for years, this can make people very ill. That’s why X-rays and 3D scans are so useful in detecting these silent inflammation bombs.
Antibiotics only dull down tooth abscesses; they don’t heal them. Many times, the body needs a bit of extra help from a surgical dentist to resolve an infection. I spend a lot of time cleaning out abscesses from people’s jaw bones, and it always feels good to leave clean bone that the body can then heal properly.
Fortunately, there are ways to lessen Face Collapse Syndrome. When conditions are favourable, a surgical dentist can remove the tooth and fill the socket with bone to minimise the impending bone loss.
On other occasions, the tooth is removed, the area left to heal, and then a bone graft is placed to regenerate lost tissues. Grafting coupled with implant, bridge or denture treatment can provide much-needed cheek and lip support.
Happily, this restoration of facial support gives a much more youthful look again.
