DENTURES

Are Dentures and Dental Services the Right Thing For Me?

This really depends on your situation. Some famous people, like George Washington, David Bowie, and Suzanne Somers have benefited from dentures. Most celebrities now favor dental implants.

Cost has not been a big consideration to them compared to many of us. The good news is that recent developments have made this a viable option for a lot more folks. A complete exam will determine the best course of action for you to pursue.

The first thing people have to understand is that dentures are not a replacement for teeth. They are a replacement for having NO teeth. This is why they are referred to as a prosthetic device.

Getting Used To Dentures

As with any artificial body part, there are adjustments to be made. With dentures and dental services that replace natural body parts, you may have to learn how to talk and eat all over again.

This being said, most people can get used to an upper denture. You have a lot of bone in the the roof of your mouth and the ability to create suction to keep your denture in place.

However, even a perfectly made lower can be very frustrating. Unlike the upper, the bottom jaw only has a thin horseshoe of bone. And we need to mention that your tongue has been trained to push out foreign objects for your whole life. Now we are asking it to keep something in.

For this reason, on the bottom we do our absolute best to try and hold on to some teeth that we can use to anchor a partial denture. If this isn’t possible, I strongly encourage the use of Dental Implants on bottom to anchor that lower denture. This is really the only reliable way to keep the lower denture from “floating” around and keep it in place.

Types of Dentures and Dental Services

There are two basic types of dentures and dental services that replace missing teeth; full plate and partial.

The full denture plate will replace an entire set of natural teeth while the partial denture can cover your need for one tooth or more.

Full Dentures

Full dentures are made of acrylic. On top a complete denture will not only cover the ridge of bone where you teeth once were but it will cover the entire roof of you mouth. This is how it is able to create suction and stay in place. Precise fitting is necessary in order to achieve the level of suction your dentures need to ensure a secure fit. This typically takes several visits to properly design, manufacture and fit your dentures.

Partial Dentures

Partial denture plates are made in much the same way, but are easier to fit since they cover a smaller area. The main difference is that partial dentures depend more on being attached to the teeth with special clasps, and are less dependent on suction.

Cu-sil  Dentures

Cu-sil dentures look like regular complete dentures with one exception. They have open spaces to accommodate the few natural teeth that may be left. These dentures have the advantage of offering more stability because the remaining natural teeth help anchor the denture in place. Together with the proper suction, they can be very comfortable dentures to wear.

Immediate Dentures

Immediate dentures are seated immediately after the teeth are removed with the advantage being that the patient does not have to go without teeth. They will also help with compression to help manage swelling. We have to remember the only reason we have bone in our jaws is to hold our teeth. You remove your teeth and the bone will begin to go away.

The majority of this bone loss happens within the first 12 months after the teeth have been extracted. After the first year the rate of bone loss slows down but never goes away. For these reasons, immediate dentures require a lot of patience by the patient.

During the first year they will never quite fit right because the underlying bone is continually changing. Often times a liner helps with looseness, but until the bone settles everything we do is only temporary. After the first year has passed we can permanently alter the denture to get a snug fit.

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