Dentures are a great option when you’ve lost teeth. They help you chew healthy food normally, and they support the jaw and cheekbones, keeping the face intact.
When patients are missing some or all of their teeth, replacement is vital to dental health and general health. Whether you need full or partial dentures will depend on what type of dental issues you face.
Let’s take a look at the differences between full and partial dentures.
Full Dentures
You will need a full set of dentures if you have lost all of your teeth on the upper or lower jaw due to disease or injury. Understand that a full set of dentures refers to each jaw at a time.
So you might have a full set of upper dentures and a partial set on the bottom. Full dentures use prosthetic teeth set into plastic that matches your gum tone. Most dental offices offer two types of full dentures, either removable or full dental implants.
Removable dentures are what many people think about when they imagine dentures. They pop in and out of the mouth with ease. Your dentist molds the upper dentures to fit firmly into the roof of your mouth.
The shape of the mold combines with your saliva to form a suction that keeps the teeth in place. The same is true for lower dentures. However, many people also opt to use denture adhesives to help keep dentures in place, though it isn’t always necessary.
When you opt for full dental implants, the dentist doesn’t replace each tooth separately. Instead, your dentist places two or four posts into your jaw to stabilize the area. Then, once the bone has healed around the posts, an abutment is fitted to the top. The dentures then snap onto the abutment, holding them in place.
Partial Dentures
If you still have some natural teeth, you may need a partial denture to fill in any missing teeth. A partial denture may replace only a single tooth or most of the upper or lower teeth, using the few remaining teeth as an anchor for the dentures.
Partial dentures fall into two categories: permanent and removable.
Permanent partial dentures are sometimes called fixed dentures or bridges. Your dentist places crowns on the healthy teeth around the problem area, and the prosthetic teeth attach to the crowns.
Removable partial dentures are sometimes also called bridges. For this option, your dentist measures the missing space to create teeth that match your own. However, instead of permanently attaching them to crowns, these dentures have a small wire frame that fits around the healthy teeth next to the missing teeth.
Removable dentures allow you to floss thoroughly around your healthy teeth and clean and care for the gums under the denture.
Final Thoughts
The right type of denture for you will depend on the number of teeth missing, their location, and the health of the surrounding teeth. Our professionals at Dakota Prosthetics and Implant Center are happy to evaluate your mouth and discuss which dental implant option is best for you. Give us a call; we’re here to answer your questions and restore your smile!
