Dentures
Years of wear to our teeth can leave them in a compromised state and people may lose confidence in their smile, but dentures can offer a complete rebuilding of your smile at an affordable cost. Most times patients will begin using their dentures immediately and not a single day will pass without teeth.
Indications for complete dentures include patients with severely compromised teeth, advanced periodontal disease and good anatomy (e.g., bone support). Numerous considerations must be made in advance to planning for dentures to ensure patient satisfaction during use. If dentures could be for you, we will be happy to discuss your situation and help you decide whether it is the right decision for you.
Versus other restorative options, dentures to have some inherent drawbacks. The ability to hard chew foods is generally more difficult, so we encourage our patients to start with softer foods and work their way up to where they are comfortable. Speaking and excessive salivation are two common effects of dentures, but tend to resolve with time during the first month of use.
Recent changes in dental treatments have allowed for improvement in denture's biggest weakness, their lack of stability. Implant supported dentures allow the denture to be secured to the underlying bone and preventing unwanted movement of the dentures. Dentures can often be retrofitted to implant placement so there is no harm in trying a regular set of dentures before proceeding with implants. Please see the implant page of our website for further detail on whether you may be a candidate for this treatment option.
Partial Dentures
Partial dentures can help reestablish support and function when tooth loss occurs. Unlike a complete denture, a partial relies on the teeth that are remaining in the mouth to help support the partial denture. They can be fabricated in a number of different materials that offer a variety of pros and cons which we will be happy to discuss with you. They are custom fabricated for your mouth based on your remaining teeth that help stabilize the denture.
A good evaluation of the remaining teeth is necessary when it comes to partial denture design because we want to ensure we build-you the best denture possible. As a general rule of thumb a minimum of 2 teeth are required to build a partial denture and reasonable amount of bone support is required on those teeth. It is also important to know partial dentures can often be repaired and even modified to replace teeth that may need to be extracted at a later date.
Ultimately it is your decision on how you would like to approach tooth loss and partial dentures can offer a solution at a reasonable cost. Re-establishing support across the dental arch can help with minimizing ware to remaining teeth, prevent drifting of teeth after extraction, help prevent changes to the temporo-mandibular joint and help with aesthetics. We will be happy to discuss all aspects of potential denture with you and answer any questions to help establish a good expectation of what a denture can do for you.