Introduction
There are numerous ways in which an individual can lose his or her teeth including causes such as disease, injury and decay among others. The loss of teeth can adversely affect someone’s life especially what a person eats. Teeth provide support to lips and cheeks and their loss can make someone look older or ugly. It is therefore important that when an individual lose his or her teeth to replace them with a suitable denture. Dentures refer to prosthetic tools created to replace the missing teeth. In their use, dentures are supported by adjoining soft and hard tissues of the mouth. Dentures are removable instruments and are formed to look like natural teeth. They are made up acrylic resins.
Overall, dentures literary can be regarded as artificial teeth constructed to take the place of the lost teeth. We have full and partial denture whereby full dentures cover the patient’s upper or lower jaw and the partials cover a single or a number of teeth. Below is brief explanation of several types of dentures and their advantages and disadvantages.
Conventional Dentures: Upper and lower dentures with no implants
This kind of dentures is constructed for individuals six to eight weeks after the teeth have been removed. They are specially made when the initial denture that was fixed on the day the teeth were removed is not fitting. This is usually because the bone and tissues have changed shape after healing from the operation. Normally this type of dentures takes the place of the lower or upper teeth. Conventional dentures are constructed and fixed after the teeth removed the gums have cured.
This type of denture is usually constructed and fixed within nearly four appointments over duration of to 2 months. The procedure begins with an appointment with denturist whereby the patient enquires what kind of denture best suits him or her.
This type of dentures is removable, but they come in variety of designs depending on the dental implants. There are two kinds of conventional dentures which are the upper and lower dentures. The upper denture stays in using suction similar to a suction cup on glass, and the lower denture simply lies on the ridge where the teeth used to be. Lower dentures slip and slide around on the ridge and are troublesome and painful when chewing and speaking if they are not anchored by snaps. Biting into a sandwich, yawning, or sneezing can cause the denture to lose suction and fall down. These types of dentures improve the patient’s chewing ability. This is made possible by acrylic teeth that take the place of the edentulous area.
They also offer visual look of having natural teeth by supporting lips and cheeks. They also rectify the collapsed appearance usually evidenced in the area between the nose and the chin. They also improve the patient’s speaking abilities.
Implant Retained Dentures: Also called an overdenture
This kind of denture is fixed using very accurate dental attachments. The attachments are fixed in roots of the tooth or in the dental implants that have been firmly secured for that purpose. Bar joint and telescopic dentures are two main categories of overdenture. Overdenture secures a denture to the bone in the same way teeth are fixed. The adjacent teeth are adjusted to allow the denture to be fixed well. The bar joints provide a better support compared to the dental implants, but the dental implants are always required to reinforce the bars. Implants support the bar. For individuals who have lost all the lower or upper teeth, telescopic denture is best overdenture system for them.
In this type of denture, an overdenture gets support from the implants that are connected to it. Unlike other dentures that rest on the gums overdenture is attached to an implant. Overdenture is primarily used when all of the patient’s teeth are missing teeth but he or she has sufficient bone that can support the implants. There are two categories of implant-retained dentures including bar-retained and ball-retained. For both categories, the overdenture has an acrylic base that is similar to gums, with porcelain teeth that resemble natural teeth attached. An overdenture has attachments that fit onto attachments on the implants.
Two or more implant snaps can be used on the upper and/or lower jaw. The more snaps that are placed, the more stable the denture will be. Much like a four legged chair, a three legged bar-stool, or even a hypothetical two legged chair, the four legs will be more stable than three or two. The denture comprise of snaps that hinge on to snaps on top of the implants keeping the denture safe and firm. These snaps come in different levels of retention, customized to the needs of the patient. When the snaps wear out the patient will come into the office and have them changed.
Implant Retained Dentures can be seen as an improvement of the convectional removable dentures. One advantage of type of denture is that they do not need adhesives. They also improve the visual appearances by preserving the remaining bone. They also reduce wrinkles near the mouth by replacing the collapsed lip support. They also enhance natural chewing abilities and are safe and comfortable to use.
Overdenture with Retained Teeth
This type of dentures is a complete overdenture that is fixed to the implants. A normal denture that sits on the gums is usually not firmly secured. Overdenture with Retained Teeth has some attachments that fasten onto dental attachments thereby providing more strength. This type of dentures can be used for lower and upper jaw.
Unlike convectional dentures, root-supported dentures are held in position by dental attachments which offer enough retentive power. This type of denture is very beneficial to the patient because it provide optimal retention, functional improvement as well as health benefits. Overdenture with Retained Teeth is made up of two key components. The first component is the root post which is glued into the patient’s root and the other is the denture cap which is kept in the underside of the patient’s denture.
This is a denture that rests on top of the patient’s own teeth that have been endodontically treated (root canals), and then shaped down to the gum line. This type of denture is preferred when the patient’s roots are healthy and stable. The patient will need to maintain a regular cleaning schedule with their hygienist and regularly have the integrity of the retained roots checked. Implant snaps may be placed in conjunction with the retained roots for a very stable, even, and comfortable bite and fit.
The types of dentures are very useful in preserving bone. They also help in lowering bone deterioration that as a consequence of loss of jawbone height. They also enhance visual appearances by taking care visual transformations that cause wrinkles. They also improve chewing abilities and phonetics. They are firm and secure and as such eliminate embarrassment associated with loose dentures. They also do not require creams and adhesives.
Palateless Denture
Some patients do not like the feeling of the denture on their palate and find swallowing and speaking difficult to get used to. For these patients, a palateless snap on implant denture can be made. For a palateless denture to function properly it must be snapped into 4-5 implants, depending on the size of the patient’s arch. Palateless snap on dentures are a favorite amongst our patients due to the higher comfort level associated with secure, solid, and very comfortable teeth.
This kind of denture covers the whole arch and is used in individuals who have lost nearly all their teeth. Palateless denture helps patients in preserving the bone. They also enhance chewing capability as well as improving stability.
Conclusion
It should be noted that, the use of dentures is always associated with some minor problems. This is due to the fact that, all that what can be done is to make denture to work in harmony with other parts of the oral cavity. However, the denturist can arrange teeth in particular ways to assist in avoiding dislodgement when opening, or chewing. Further, it is worth to note that practically an individual with a good edentulous ridge with a suitable denture would need no adhesive, as the real structure of the denture base should work in harmony with the ridges.
Many individuals who wear dentures usually feel pain. This is due to fact that dentures cause sore gums due to variety of reason. Current technology in this area cannot construct a denture that can fit accurately for the patients.
One root cause of denture pain is as result of how they are fitted. When a denture is properly fixed on the gum, there should be no pain at all, however when they are fixed in a wrong way, there is friction against the gum. This causes sore gums and swelling. This should be treated immediately to avoid more problems.
The structure of the dental ridges keeps on changing. With time the ridges transform their structure and as a result, the dentures become loose, as they are not fitting well to the new structure of the ridges. There are short time solutions to loose dentures provided by number of creams that are given by denturists. However, these creams offer a temporary cure and help in increasing denture grip onto gum. They do this by creating a bond, which attaches the dentures more securely to the gums.
Cotton cushion is also solution to gum pain. This is when they fixed between denture and the ridges. Cushion practically minimizes the pressure required to facilitate bone production.
The base of a denture can practically be altered and enhanced in a number of ways. When the gums are very sore and swollen for another denture, it is good to place, temporary soft liner beneath the denture to help the gums heal quickly. In some circumstances a flexible resin is employed to coat the inner side of the ridge which restores the denture grip but this particularly depends on the shape of the gums.
After gums have swollen, it is worth to note that the easy solutions provide the greatest cure. Hence when gums are swollen, it is good to remove the denture and this will allow the gums some relief. At this point it is worth to note that, the gums also need good air to stay health and therefore removing the denture allows them to breathe. Hygiene is also very essential to good maintenance of denture. Individuals with dentures should wash them with warm water prevent them being infected by bacteria. Finally, those with dentures should consult their denturists if the gum pain persists.