Prosthetics is the area of medicine that deals with artificial body part replacements. In dentistry, it is the artificial replacement of natural teeth and other adjacent structures. A natural tooth can be lost due to trauma, massive decay, or periodontal disease. (Developmental defects, whereby a tooth either does not erupt properly or fails to develop at all, is another problem.)
When a tooth is missing, the necessity for artificial replacement depends on a number of factors. Loss of a front tooth poses mostly an aesthetic dilemma, whereas loss of a back tooth creates problems with shifting teeth and decreased chewing efficiency. Since these conditions are not life threatening, the decision to replace a lost tooth is personal, depending on how intact a person wishes to be or the degree of health he or she chooses to maintain. The analogy of the brick wall is again useful. Once bricks, or teeth, are removed, the remaining bricks are subject to additional stress, which could lead to further loss and possibly a collapse of the entire structure. This analogy isn’t always true because most people who lose teeth do not succumb to a complete oral breakdown.

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