Permanent Dentures

Dentures that slip, slide and pop out can be a thing of the past with permanent type dentures. Permanent dentures are right on the cutting edge of denture technology. Old style dentures used to rely solely on suction and/or clips to help keep them in place, but that was an imperfect system. Learning to chew with new dentures can be a little intimidating at first, but try it while your teeth are floating around in your mouth and the degree of difficulty shoots right up the scale. Permanent dentures are a terrific alternative. Let's get an overview of the process and types of permanent dentures available.

To begin, your denturist will help you select the type of denture you need based upon your individual situation. One tooth, several teeth, or a full set of dentures may be in order. Then the custom fitting process begins. Fitting your dentures is a multi-stage process that will require several visits. At the first visit, your denturist will do a thorough examination of your mouth and make sure that your gum tissue and ridges are in the proper shape to support the dentures. If no surgical re-shaping is needed, your denturist will then take a soft bite impression of your upper and lower jaws. This impression will be used to make a wax bite impression that plastic teeth can be set into to get a working model for the final denture to be constructed from. Once the final denture is made and given your approval you are ready for permanent mounting.

Permanent dentures can be mounted in different ways. A partial denture ridge can be permanently mounted by bonding it to the abutment teeth which have been built up with crowns for added stability. This can be quite adequate to hold a partial denture in place, but there is another method that is even more secure because it doesn't depend on the natural teeth not decaying. This style is called the implant method.

Implant dentures are suitable no matter how many teeth you need, the mounting method varies only slightly. The basic process involves surgically implanting titanium rods directly into the bone tissue of your gums. The rods will be positioned according to the shape and location of your new denture, either pointing up or down from the appropriate jaw, or facing outward for frontal bridges. When your gums have completely healed, the new dentures can be permanently cemented to the exposed posts.

The result is dentures that look wonderful and feel so natural that no one will suspect you're wearing them. Consult your denturist to see if permanent dentures are the right choice for you.