Dentures
Are you missing teeth? A great way to replace those teeth are to use partial or full dentures. These dentures are made from acrylic or cobalt-chrome so they stand the test of biting and chewing. By sourcing and having them fabricated only in Australian dental labs using high quality materials, we ensure that you receive long lasting dentures. The dentist will need to see you to assess the best options going forward.
What are my options when it comes to dentures?
The first thing we look at is how many teeth it may replace. This allows us to assess how we will construct the denture so it can sit firmly in the mouth, often times it may wrap around existing teeth to give you that extra retention.
The next thing we assess is which material makes sense in your case. It may be made from acrylic, cobalt-chrome (metal looking) or some form of flexible acrylic. The teeth themselves on the denture will either be acrylic or porcelain.
If we assess that a FULL Denture is necessary, it means it’ll be a replacement of all your natural teeth.
These full dentures effectively sit on your gums and the ridge that is left using a ‘suction’ effect to stay in.
How successful these are can vary depending on the bone structure left and the positioning of your jaws. There are cases where we may recommend dental implants to provide more stability.
The other benefit to full dentures is that it can be customized to assist in enhancing your facial features by effectively pushing out your lips and cheeks. This way you avoid the ‘sucked in’ look of your cheeks and lips folding inwards.
The other option is the partial denture which is a replacement of some of the natural teeth rather than all. These dentures are made of similar materials including acrylic and cobalt chrome backing. Most of the time, these partial dentures will be made to include clasps that effectively wrap around your existing teeth. These partial acrylic dentures are relatively inexpensive, quick to be made and modifiable in that we can add teeth if necessary. Acrylic dentures may feel thicker and slightly less comfortable than cobalt-chrome dentures which typically may be more expensive and take longer to create. On the otherside they will usually feel slightly more comfortable and have additional strength to them.
The last option is a Flexible partial dentures which are usually made from thermo-plastics. These are usually flexible, light and thin surrounding your natural teeth with clasps that can’t be seen. These are great to replace one or a few teeth and provide better aesthetics as the tooth and the clasps are made in a way to blend in with teeth and gums.
Do I have to wait after removing my teeth before I get dentures?
The best is to plan your dentures before your teeth are removed, but alternatively we can create them if the teeth are no longer there. Ideally we create them following extractions so that they fit better and will rely on the existing bone structure to fit best. The other benefit of planning dentures before your extractions is that you’ll have replacement teeth as soon as those teeth are extracted. This is best for aesthetics, we call this an immediate denture.
Immediate Dentures
These are dentures that are placed ‘immediately’ after having teeth extracted.
Here are the advantages of having an immediate denture made.
- You leave the clinic with teeth in place and don’t have huge gaps for a period of time.
- An immediate denture actually promotes healing by assisting in forming the blood clot underneath the denture
- Having an immediate denture will ensure that bone resorption or bone shrinkage will be minimal.
- It will allows you to continue to do your daily tasks such as speaking and eating.
- Immediate dentures can also be relined when the gum and bone shrinks over time to continually improve the fit of the denture..
Some things to think about if using immediate dentures:
- Because the teeth have been extracted, there is a lot of healing and bone shrinking that happens over time. With any surgery, it usually happens in the first few months which means that your immediate denture will feel looser when this happens.
- We do expect to have to reline the denture when it feels looser, so that we can improve the fit.
- After a period of time, your gums and bones will stabilize and that is when we recommend a more permanent option, like a new full denture or the addition of dental implants to strengthen the fit of dentures. This will be assessed over time.
It is hard to predict how your gums and bones shrink and heal over time as it’s different for everyone.
As always we suggest visiting one of our dentists at SIA Dental Burwood to allow them to assess your situation and help you make the best choice.
How are dentures made?
We will require a series of appointments to create the best fitting impressions, moulds and manual measurements. Once we have that done to a satisfactory degree we then send these to an australian laboratory where they manually create the customised denture with the instructions of the dentist to tailor fit your smile and mouth.
The time frame can vary depending on the case.
Our Dental team would love the opportunity to help you and your family achieve optimal oral health and the smile that you want.
Book online in under 2 minutes or call us and talk to our knowledgeable friendly team. Our dental suites are located within SIA Medical & Dental centre Burwood. Conveniently on Burwood Highway, near Deakin University and Burwood One shopping centre. We are right infront of a tramstop and have plentiful onsite carparks.
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