Are You Self-Conscious Because You Have Multiple Missing Teeth?

Dentures, often called “false teeth” are replacement teeth that sit on top the gums and fill in the gaps wherever natural teeth are missing.

Dentures can replace one, several, or all of your teeth.  There are typically three different types: Flippers, Partial Dentures and Complete Denture. These can be made of Hard Acrylic, Cast metal-acrylic combinations, or Flexible acrylics.

Flipper Partial Dentures typically replace one to three teeth and are meant as a temporary aesthetic measure. Most often you see individuals missing one front tooth using a flipper denture. Many professional hockey players use flippers to replace teeth until a definitive solution, such as dental implants, are used at the end of their careers.

Partial Dentures use clasps to connect to supporting teeth and can more feasibly be used for eating and aesthetics. These patial dentures can be made of cast metal- acrylic combinations, or a flexible acrylic. The cast-metal may be more durable, whereas the flexible acrylic, while durable, tends to be somewhat more comfortable and more aesthetic.

Complete or Full Dentures replace all the upper or lower teeth and use suction from your saliva and gums to stay in place. The stability largely depends on how much bone is remaining; little bone can mean little stability, whereas a wide arch with lots of bone can generate a very stable denture. Sometimes denture adhesives may be needed to generate enough stability and suction; this is most common for lower dentures.

Immediate Complete Dentures are used when a denture is used to replace teeth at the time of their extraction. Typically an immediate denture will need a soft reline one month post-extraction, a hard reline at 6 months, and may require replacement after one year. These relines are necessitated by the remodelling of the bone surrounding the tooth sockets over time. Any denture may need relining every 5-10 years depending on the rate of this continous bone loss and remodelling.

Dental implants can be a reliable way to secure a lower or upper denture if stability and function are becoming less reliable. A denture may still be removable on dental implants, or it may be fixed in place.

Learn More About Dentures

If you would like to find out if you’re a good candidate for dentures or want to learn more please contact us for more information.