Dentures

Dentures

Dentures are an option to replace missing teeth. Often times only a few teeth in the jaw may be missing and a partial denture will replace these teeth. Other times all the teeth in the jaw are absent and the denture will replace them all. This replacement option is not fixed in the mouth, but may be removed as needed.

Conventional Denture – this is when the teeth have previously been extracted and the tissues have been able to heal completely before the final dentures are made.

Immediate Denture – prior to the extraction of teeth, a mold of the mouth is taken to make a denture. After the teeth are removed the dentures are immediately placed in the mouth. You don’t have to spend time without teeth. Although the first few days or weeks may be tender and sore from the extraction procedure.

Dentures take a lot of time and patience to get used to. It may feel bulky, and affect speech and taste. Over time the tissue under the denture may continue to change and atrophy because the lack of direct stimulus of the underlying bone. The dentures may begin to feel loose and move on the tissues more. They may never feel perfect, but it is a better alternative than not having teeth.

The biggest change in having dentures will be adapting to the ability to function and eat the foods you want. Natural teeth are able to chew foods with up to 200 lbs./sq. inch. With dentures these forces drop down to 50 lbs. /sq. inch and sometimes as low as 10 lbs. /sq. inch. This can be quite debilitating and lead to a poorer quality of life.