Removable Dentures

What are Dentures?

A set of removable artificial teeth which replaces the missing teeth are known as Dentures. It can be upper jaw denture & lower jaw denture.

How many types of Dentures are there?

1. Partial dentures:It can have one or more teeth.

2. Complete dentures: It considers replacing entire set of teeth.

They can also be classified in two

1. Tissue supported dentures

2. Implant supported dentures

They may be classified based on the material used as

1. All acrylic dentures

2. Cast partial dentures (with metal base)

3. Flexible dentures

What are the advantages of Denture?

Dentures can help patients in several ways:

1. Mastication : It improves the chewing efficiency of the patient.

2. Aesthetics : Presence of teeth give a natural facial appearance, and wearing a denture to replace missing teeth provides support for the lips and cheeks that corrects the collapsed appearance that occurs after losing teeth.

3. Phonetics : With the replacement of missing teeth, especially the front teeth, patients are better able to speak by improving pronunciation of many words.

4. Self-Esteem : Patients feel good about themselves & their self confidence improves a lot.

Removable dentures are much cheaper in comparison to fixed bridges & implants.

What are the disadvantages of Denture?

1. They need to be removed for cleaning after every meal.

2. They tend to loosen over a period of time.

3. Sometimes denture soreness (ulcers) occur, which can be corrected by trimming the denture.

4. Some may have gagging (vomit) sensation with dentures.

5. All acrylic dentures are breakable

What are implant supported Dentures?

Maxillary denture is usually relatively straightforward & has a whole palate for support so that it remains stable without slippage. A lower full denture, on the other hand, has continually moving tongue which destabilizes it so it should or must be supported by 2-4 implants placed in the lower jaw for support. A lower denture supported by 2-4 implants is a far superior product than a lower denture without implants.

Fixed Dentures

Another alternative is a fixed denture that is backed by and attached to implants. It allows you to wear full or partial dentures without worrying that they will slip or fall out.