Partial and Complete Dental Dentures
 Losing your teeth affects every aspect of your life. Basic tasks like eating and speaking become more challenging. Your digestion may be affected, which can impact your overall nutrition. Tooth loss can also impact the quality of your smile, leading to significant self-consciousness. At Raptou Family Dental, we can provide replacement for missing teeth with dentures and partials.
How Do You Lose Teeth in the First Place?
Tooth loss can occur as a result of many different issues. These issues include:
| • |
Gum, or periodontal, disease. This is the leading cause of tooth loss.
|
| • |
Facial trauma. Facial trauma has many causes, including things like car accidents, falls, sports injuries, and physical fights.
|
| • |
Severe tooth decay.
|
| • |
Bruxism. |
What Are Dentures?
Dentures are the traditional treatment for replacing missing teeth. They are a removable prosthesis that consists of replacement teeth set into a rigid base. The base sits directly on your gums, and the tissue provides support for your prosthetic teeth. Dentures have been used to replace missing teeth for hundreds of years. Over the years, the treatment has undergone numerous changes and improvements. Today, dentures are made with acrylic resin teeth and an acrylic, gum-colored base. They are made to look much more natural and much less bulky than older dentures. The teeth are designed to be less perfect than older types of dentures, which help to provide a much more realistic appearance. The gum colored, or clear base also helps the base to blend in much more effectively with your actual gum tissue.
Full Dentures Vs. Partial Dentures
When most people think of dentures, they tend to think about full dentures. A full denture is a restoration designed to replace an entire arch of missing teeth, whether they are for your upper arch, lower arch, or even both. Your denture is made from an impression of your mouth, which is taken following the extraction of any remaining unhealthy teeth. Your impression is then used to create your custom denture.
A partial denture is a removable prosthesis that is made to replace a section of missing teeth. With this type of denture, we do not need to extract perfectly healthy teeth just to place a full denture. A partial denture is created similarly to a full denture and is similar in design. The biggest difference between full and partial dentures is that partial dentures have metal clasps that attach to your adjacent healthy teeth, providing your prosthetic teeth with additional stability.
Adjusting to Your New Dentures
It does take some time to adjust to your new dentures, whether you have received a full denture or a partial denture. It is not uncommon to experience discomfort in your tongue and jaw as you get used to keeping your denture in place. There are things you can do to help make the process easier. Start out eating soft foods. As you gain confidence, you can then begin to incorporate more of your favorite foods. Chew evenly on both sides of your mouth to distribute chewing pressures evenly. Dentures can also affect your speech at first. Practicing will help you to learn how to speak with your restorations faster.
Caring for Dentures
Your dentures require daily care. It is important that you remove them every night to clean them. Before removing them, lay a folded towel on your counter or fill the sink with water. Once you remove your denture, brush it with a soft-bristled toothbrush and denture paste or soap and water. Do not use toothpaste. After brushing your denture, place it to soak in a denture cleaning solution overnight. Brush and floss your natural teeth in addition to your gums and other intraoral tissues. These habits are essential for ensuring that your dentures remain clean and that your mouth remains healthy.
Dentures and partial dentures replace your missing teeth, restoring your abilities to eat and speak properly. Modern dentures also aid in restoring the appearance of your smile. For more information, and to find out if dentures or partials are right for you, call Raptou Family Dental at (614) 427-0449 to schedule your appointment today.
|
