Losing a back molar really does sneak up on you, doesn’t it? I put off getting a partial for ages after an extraction, thinking it wouldn’t matter much since nobody could see it. But after a while, I noticed my bite felt off and food kept getting stuck where there used to be a tooth. It’s wild how your mouth just... adapts, but not always in a good way.
I totally get the part about wisdom teeth being their own thing. Mine were impacted and the pain was brutal for a few days, but once that healed up, I barely noticed they were gone. The regular extraction messed with my smile more in the long run—just little things like chewing on one side or feeling like my other teeth were drifting.
It’s easy to think “out of sight, out of mind,” but those empty spots can cause more headaches down the line. If anyone’s on the fence about filling a gap, don’t feel bad—it took me years to do something about mine. You’re definitely not alone.
It’s easy to think “out of sight, out of mind,” but those empty spots can cause more headaches down the line.
This is exactly what’s stressing me out right now. I had a molar pulled last month and keep worrying about what’s going to happen if I don’t get it replaced soon. Every time I chew, I’m hyper-aware of the gap and honestly, food getting stuck there is driving me nuts. With my wisdom teeth, it was just pain for a week or two, but this molar thing feels like a long-term problem. Did you notice your other teeth moving right away or did it take a while? I keep checking in the mirror… probably too much.
Every time I chew, I’m hyper-aware of the gap and honestly, food getting stuck there is driving me nuts.
Totally relate to that. After I lost a molar, it felt like every meal was a battle with food getting wedged in there. Took a while before my other teeth started shifting noticeably—maybe a few months? Didn’t happen overnight, but I did notice my bite felt “off” before anything looked different in the mirror. Checking all the time is normal…I did it too! It gets less distracting once you get used to it, but replacing the tooth really helped me feel less anxious about the long-term stuff.
it felt like every meal was a battle with food getting wedged in there
That’s exactly what my kid went through after her molar came out. We had to keep a little travel toothbrush in her lunchbox for months. The shifting didn’t seem obvious at first, but her bite definitely changed before we could see anything. Honestly, regular extractions seemed to mess with her chewing more than when she got her wisdoms out—those were sore, but at least the gaps were way in the back and didn’t trap food as much.
her bite definitely changed before we could see anything
That happened to me too after a premolar extraction—my jaw felt off for ages. Wisdom teeth were way less annoying, honestly. The food traps in the middle just drove me nuts, even with floss picks stashed everywhere.
