What are Dentures?
If you are considering dentures, get comfortable with the idea of them!
At Padden Dental, we make sure your dentures are natural looking in appearance and color, so no one can tell the difference.
Dentures are a type of removable dental appliance with artificial teeth attached to a plastic and wire frame. The frame slips over your gums so that the artificial teeth look like natural teeth. Dentures are a more affordable solution than dental implants if you have many missing teeth. Your dentures will be custom-made in a dental lab to achieve an ideal fit. Your dentist will also help to make sure that the color of the artificial teeth is as natural as possible so that no one will notice you are wearing dentures.
What Are the Advantages of Dentures?
When you have lost many or all of your natural teeth, wearing dentures helps prevent your facial muscles from sagging and stimulates your jawbones. Without dentures, your jawbones can lose mass and shape, causing your face to change in appearance. You might also notice an improvement in your smile after getting dentures, especially if your natural teeth are stained and visibly damaged due to decay.[1]
Wearing dentures helps you to speak more naturally than if your teeth are missing. The way that you pronounce words involves making a lot of movements between your tongue and teeth.[1] Having the dentures in place can make it easier for you to converse. Dentures also help you get the nutrition that you need for optimal health, especially if you had missing molars, which are the teeth that allow you to chew foods thoroughly.
Types of Dentures
Your dentist might recommend that you get a particular type of dentures. Partial dentures are attached to a fixed bridge. They are designed to be anchored to two of your natural teeth so that the missing spaces are filled in with the artificial teeth. A partial denture can be expanded if you lose more teeth in the future.[2]
Complete dentures are used when all of your natural teeth are gone. If you choose this option, you’ll have an upper denture and a lower denture and may need to use an adhesive to hold the dentures in place on your gum tissue. There are two sub-types of complete dentures. An immediate denture is ready for you to wear right away after having your remaining natural teeth removed. It is made in advance at a dental lab so that you do not have to be without teeth.[2]
A conventional complete denture is ready to use after your gum tissue has healed from tooth extraction surgery, which usually takes 8 to 12 weeks. The conventional denture requires fewer adjustments than an immediate denture and might feel more comfortable in your mouth.