Partials And Full Dentures Helpful For Replacing Missing Teeth
Dentures are removable replacements for your missing teeth and surrounding tissues due to injuries or decay. Tooth loss, whether partial or complete, makes it challenging for you to eat, chew, and speak. Missing teeth also affect your facial structure because your teeth help prevent the facial muscles from sagging.
If you miss any teeth, you may wonder whether you should get partials or full dentures. However, there are various things to consider before you decide to get any replacement solution for your missing teeth. Let us look at some of the considerations that need attention.
What Are Full Dentures?
A full set of dentures are custom-created removable dental appliances for your missing teeth. You can either have a traditional or immediate complete set of dentures. These dental prosthetics are created after all your teeth are extracted and the gum tissue begins healing. Traditional dentures are ready for placement in your mouth in approximately eight to 12 weeks after your teeth are removed.
Immediate dentures allow you the flexibility of having your replacement teeth immediately after getting your teeth extracted. Immediate dentures are created in advance to ensure you don’t have to be without teeth during the healing. However, your bones and gums shrink during the healing period, making immediate dentures inappropriate than traditional dentures. These dental prosthetics need frequent adjustments to fit correctly and are best considered as a temporary solution until you can get conventional dentures for yourself.
How Are Partial Dentures Different?
Removable partial dentures consist of replacement teeth attached to a gum-colored or pink plastic base connected by a metal framework to hold the denture in place in the mouth. Partial dentures are helpful when you have one or more natural teeth remaining in the upper or lower jaw. Partial dentures help fill vacant spaces created by missing teeth and prevent your remaining teeth from shifting out of position. Partial dentures are removable and have internal attachments instead of clasps attaching to the neighboring teeth to deliver a natural-looking appearance.
The Making of Dental Prosthetics like Dentures
The making of dentures requires a few weeks and several appointments with the dentist near you. After your dentist or prosthodontist specializing in the restoration and replacement of teeth determines which dental appliances are best for you, they make a series of impressions of your jaw, taking measurements of how your jaws relate to each other and how much space remains between them.
The specialists create models in the exact shape and position of the denture that you need. You must try the model several times for the specialists to assess the color for the denture and fit before casting the final denture. After casting, the final appliance adjustments are made by the specialists as necessary.
How Do New Dentures Feel like?
Your new dentures will feel out of place initially until your cheeks and muscles of the tongue get accustomed to keeping them in place. Your comfort when inserting and removing the appliances from your mouth also plays a significant role in how your dentures feel in your mouth. You may experience minor irritation or soreness in the mouth and an increase in saliva when you initially start wearing dentures. However, the problems will disappear after your mouth adjusts to the alien appliance in your mouth.
Will Your Appearance Change, or Will You Encounter Challenges When Eating?
Dentures resemble your natural teeth ensuring there are minimal changes to your appearance. In reality, dentures help improve your smile and fill out your facial appearance.
You require some practice eating myth and new dentures and may experience discomfort for a few weeks. You can cut food into smaller pieces and chew from both sides of your mouth until you get accustomed to the new appliance. After getting accustomed, you can add other foods to your diet, gradually making efforts to return to your regular diet. However, it would help if you exercise caution when having scorching or complex foods. You must avoid sticky and hard foods besides chewing gum when you are wearing your denture. Full or partial dentures are removable appliances comfortable for cleaning outside your mouth. Therefore it would help if you refrain from using toothpicks while wearing dentures.
Must You Wear Dentures All Day?
Your dentist instructs you how long you must wear the dentures and when to remove them. You receive instructions to wear the appliances throughout the day and night when sleeping in the initial few days. You may experience discomfort wearing your dentures. However, it is the quickest method of identifying areas where the dentures need adjustments. After the necessary changes are completed, you can remove the dentures before going to bed. The removal helps your gums to rest and allows stimulation and cleansing by your tongue and saliva. The denture can return to your mouth in the morning.
Removable dental prosthetics like dentures have lost their credibility despite alternative options for replacing teeth becoming more popular. Dentures are still a solution for many people who cannot afford the costlier tooth replacement solutions for medical reasons or personal circumstances.