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Is It Time for New Dentures?

Dentures that fit well can improve your looks and enhance eating and speaking. Talk to your prosthodontist about your current situation and whether you need new dentures. In general, the life expectancy of false teeth is about five to seven years.

Factors that affect the satisfaction and life span of your prosthodontics include:

• General health status
• Significant weight increase or decrease
• Time since loss of teeth
• Denture care and cleaning
• Tobacco and caffeine use
• Shape of your mouth
• Changes in facial and oral muscles
• Variation in skin tone or color

The color match of false teeth to a natural tooth color can seem to change, especially if the natural teeth are darker due to stains or lighter because of past dental treatment. Also, dentures can wear, stain, chip, or fracture over time. Today's denturists are able to modify the look of smiles and gum tissues in order to compliment existing teeth, skin color, or tone.

Dentures, like all manufactured goods, require regular maintenance and eventual replacement. To maintain proper fit, appearance, function, and to avoid any damage to oral structure, a prosthodontist should regularly evaluate your false teeth. The gum and bone tissues that support dentures undergo changes over time and with age. Often, these changes include a good amount of bone shrinkage. Bone shrinkage causes a denture to become loose, less functional, and slip during eating and speaking. Age-related changes in facial muscles, complexion, and lips also will affect the function and appearance of your prosthodontics. Oral hygiene habits, use of tobacco, and drinking coffee or tea will also affect the appearance of a denture, as well as any odors associated with them.

Since dentures are in use every day, for many years, it is reasonable to periodically replace those that no longer fit properly. If you have not visited a denturist recently, if your false teeth slip, have lost their good looks, cause discomfort, or if they are more than five years old, you may need to replace them.

by Denise J. Fedele, D.M.D., M.S.

+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page.

Learn About Conventional Over-Denture

A conventional over-denture rests over some healthy natural tooth roots. This approach was first reported in 1861. To understand this method, it is necessary to review some facts.

An Overview of Alveolar Ridge Dynamics

• Maintaining a denture on the jawbone ridge (called alveolar ridge) is essential to prevent it from becoming loose during eating, speaking, and other activities.
• Preserving the alveolar ridge facilitates denture stability.
• The body tends to conserve energy and nutrients by maintaining only structures with apparent immediate value. A typical example is the bulk reduction of a broken leg held immobile by a full-leg cast for a month or more.
• The body recognizes that the only one purpose for alveolar bone is to hold tooth roots.
• Alveolar bone no longer supporting a tooth root is removed, or literally dissolved away, by the body. This is called resorption, or simply shrinkage.
• Resorption progresses at varying rates in the same person at different times, and at different rates between different people. Resorption progresses rapidly within the first year of losing a tooth, after which time, the rate progresses at a slower pace.

From this overview, if the maximum amount of alveolar ridge is to be maintained, then preserving the maximum number of periodontally healthy tooth roots should achieve that end.

Preserving the Sensation of Having Teeth

Studies demonstrate that even though only roots are preserved, and a denture covers them, a patient still has sensory input sensations similar to that experienced with teeth, as opposed to individuals with conventional dentures and no preserved roots. Over-denture patients also appear to have a more natural perceived directional sense in their chewing activities. In other words, many patients relate that they still feel like they have teeth -- a positive comment.

Underlying Philosophy of the Conventional Over-Denture

If a patient's treatment plan to have a denture, and the roots of some remaining teeth are supported in healthy alveolar bone, then a conventional over-denture is a viable consideration.

However, only a licensed dentist can determine if a conventional over-denture is a suitable consideration for a certain person, after a comprehensive examination.

Some Characteristics of a Conventional Over-Denture

• Most of a tooth crown (that part of the tooth above the gums) is removed. This often necessitates root canal therapy if not already done.
• The remaining tooth, projecting above the gum, is rounded and usually covered with a similarly shaped artificial crown-like covering.
• Various configurations and extensions may be built onto some retained roots. In those cases, that portion of the denture overlying these configurations is modified to contain attachments that clip onto a framework or receive the individual extensions. In addition to preserving alveolar bone and sensory input, the denture is held securely in place, but may be comfortably and easily removed for cleaning.

Advantages of a Conventional Over-Denture

• Feels more like having teeth
• More retentive in many cases
• Helps reduce shrinkage of surrounding bone
• Reduces pressure to portions of the alveolar ridge
• Positive psychological advantage of still having teeth

Disadvantages of a Conventional Over-Denture

• Scrupulous oral hygiene is essential in order to prevent decay and gum disease
• The over-denture may feel bulkier than a conventional denture
• Frequent maintenance examinations are necessary
• Generally, this is a more expensive approach than a conventional denture

by Joseph J. Massad, D.D.S.

+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page.