Dends are tempermental, they loose a few leaves from the bottom up periodically, which is the norm. If you have a larger area of leaf loss than its important to see if the cause could be pest related. Dends. will loose lower leaves and leave a long stalk so to speak as they go into adulthood, new shoots should appear around the bottom areas of the plant.
Do you have any
's of your dend, it would be of help, also go to the thread "baffled" under dend and see if yours looks like Sue's.