Originally Posted by
BlazingPedals
A standard chainring will act as you describe. A single-chainring system should use a specially-toothed chainring, which has taller teeth to prevent derailling. It sounds like you've got the wrong chainring on your bike.
The teeth in a single chainring are not taller, they are alternately wider and narrower to better fit the chain links. I have one on my 1x10 setup and have never dropped a chain.