Dentures
Dentures
With our aging population, more and more patients with missing teeth will need help to restore their function and self-esteem with denture services. From partially edentulous (some missing teeth) to full edentulous (all the teeth are missing), at 34 Ave Dental with Dr. Sam Huang, we work to provide high-quality dentures at affordable rates for our patients.
Dr. Sam Huang has the experience and is committed to spending the time needed to make sure the dentures we create have the correct shade/shape, look, function and phonetics (correct vertical dimension of occlusion). There are different types of dentures available based on your need:
- Complete dentures (upper or lower)
- Partial dentures
- Implant overdenture dentures
Your dentist may recommend dentures for the following reasons:
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Loss of all teeth in an arch
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Loss of several teeth in an arch
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Enhancing smile and appearance
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Improving chewing, speech and digestion
Complete Dentures
Complete dentures, like partial dentures, are a removable dental appliance that replaces missing teeth and the surrounding tissue. Dentures are designed to be comfortable and functional. They are very similar in appearance to natural teeth and can dramatically improve your smile and facial appearance.
Complete dentures replace all natural teeth and cover the entire upper or lower jaw. These dentures rest directly on the gum and provide support for the cheeks and lips.
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Complete Upper Dentures (CUD) are normally made of an acrylic resin (pink colour to mimic gum colour) and acrylic teeth with different shades available for a good cosmetic match. The denture base covers the roof of the mouth to replace the entire upper arch of missing teeth for retention. Most people have good bone ridge height on the upper arch, plus the roof of the mouth provides a large surface called a palatal seal that has relatively successful and retentive upper dentures. The satisfaction rate of upper dentures is relatively high.
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Complete lower dentures (CLD) are made of the same material, however, due to the tongue and cheeks being in the way, and constant motion of the tongue and cheeks when we talk and eat, the lower denture will NOT be as retentive as the upper denture. In addition, the rate of lower bone ridge reabsorbs a lot faster compared to the upper ridge. Many people end up with poor bone ridge after teeth being extracted for years. Complaints of lower dentures being loose and causing sore spots due to instability are not uncommon among patients. Despite the technique or tricks the dentist can do to increase the relative retention of lower dentures, due to physiological limitations, lower dentures will take a longer time to get used to. A denture adhesive can be used to increase retention for lower dentures. Permanent Resilient softling on a lower denture functions as a cushion to reduce the chance of sore spots on the lower denture.
The complete denture chewing force is much diminished compared to natural teeth, and will therefore require time and patience to learn the new way to chew/eat and talk. Most people will adapt with time, however some people will always want extra chewing ability and extra security to keep the denture in without worrying about it coming out: this is where an implant over dentures can come into play.
Partial Dentures
A partial denture is a removable replacement for missing teeth. It consists of prosthetic teeth attached to a gum-coloured base, which attaches to your natural teeth with clasps. A partial denture not only fills in the space created by missing teeth, it prevents surrounding teeth from shifting.
If you have only some missing teeth, a removable partial denture can help to restore some chewing functions. It is still removable, not fixed in the mouth. There are a few different styles of partial denture:
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Casting metal base partial denture uses a metal base for stability, with acrylic resin for gums, and acrylic teeth for look and function. It contains metal clasps to hook on teeth for retention. It is more retentive than full dentures and is a very strong, durable prothesis, that can be repaired if damaged. Limitations to consider are metal sensitivity or cosmetic concerns due to the metal arms.
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Valplast flexible partial denture is a cast thermo plastic denture that is thin, lightweight, and flexible with invisible clasps that surround the natural teeth. Flexible partials are a premium, quality product that offer the benefits of superior aesthetics, comfort, function and bio-compatibility. However, flexible partial dentures are more expensive than the metal denture alternative, and have a more limited capacity for repair when damaged.
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Acrylic interim partial denture is made of an acrylic resin base with metal hooks. They are designed for interim use for tissue healing and monitoring the condition of gums/teeth. These are the least expensive option, but a major disadvantage is that they are not stable in the long term, and easy to distort or break.
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Flipper denture (intermediate) is an acrylic denture that may be used to replace just one tooth, or replace several teeth. It can be used as an immediate replacement for an extracted tooth, as an interim replacement when waiting for tissue healing or waiting for an implant procedure, and sometimes as a long term replacement if finances are a problem.
Implant Overdenture Dentures
In cases of poor stability with dentures or if a patient cannot get used to traditional dentures, implant dentures are an effective alternative that can provide extra retention and stability.
On the lower arch, 2 or 4 implants are placed into the lower arch, and once they are healed and integrated into the bone, a denture is made over the top of the implants. The denture can click into the implants making the denture harder to be removed and very retentive in the mouth.
There are different options on lower implant denture, such as locator denture, mini-implants, all on 4, and bar over denture, based on the bone available for surgery, .
