Dentures

If you have missing teeth dentures offer a way of replacing them. They will improve your ability to chew food and speak. They can also restore the contour of your cheeks eliminating the sunken appearance that develops when many teeth are missing.

Dentures can be Complete (replacing a full set of teeth) or Partial (replacing a few teeth).

Complete Dentures

Removable full dentures are still one of the most common ways of replacing a complete set of missing teeth. It is important that the dentures fit well: movement from ill-fitting dentures can irritate the gums, cause slurred speech and clicking noises. All dentures must be removed for cleaning, ideally once a day.

Combined Dentures and Implants

A number of implants can be placed in the jaw bone to retain a denture. Once the implants have been in place for about 6 months a new denture clips onto the implants making it very stable and far superior to a normal denture. Four implants in each arch are normally needed to provide stability for full dentures. By using implants with dentures there is no need for the denture to cover the palate of the mouth and hence taste is significantly improved. Also difficult to eat foods such as apples and steak are once again a joy to eat and gooey adhesives become a thing of the past.

Partial Dentures

Partial Denture with Precision Attachments

A partial denture consists of a plate with a number of false teeth on it.

A partial denture may be all plastic or a mixture of metal and plastic. Partial dentures may have metal clips that help keep the denture in place. These are either clips that wrap around an adjacent tooth or invisible precision attachments on both an adjacent natural tooth and on the partial denture. Precision attachments cannot be seen from the front of the teeth and they hold the partial denture very firmly in place.

Metal partial dentures are much stronger and less bulky than plastic dentures.