Dentures

Dentures and Partial Dentures

What exactly are Dentures?
Dentures are replacement teeth or replacements for missing teeth that can be taken in and out of your mouth. Dentures take some getting used to but today's dentures look and feel more like real teeth that almost everyone will not be able to tell the difference.

There are two main types of dentures: full dentures and partial dentures. Dr. Whelan will help you choose the type of dentures that are the best suited for you based on how many teeth need replaced and how many do not.

How will my Dentures Work?
Full dentures work in that, a flesh-colored acrylic base fits over the outside of your gums. The base of the upper denture covers the roof of your mouth, while the lower denture is shaped like a horseshoe to fit the bottom of your mouth and accommodate your tongue.

Dentures are always made to custom fit you in a dental laboratory. Dentures are made from special dental impressions that are taken of your mouth.. Your dentist will determine which of the three types of dentures described below is best for you.

Conventional Full Denture
A full denture is placed in your mouth to give the effect of a full healthy smile. A dentist removes all remaining teeth and allows you to heal for several months. After the healing process you will then have your full dentures.

Immediate Full Denture
The Immediate Denture is the same as the Full denture described above except the denture is placed in your mouth immediately after any teeth are removed. The dentist takes measurements and molds of your mouth so you are never without teeth. You will have to come in to have your dentures tightened after several months in which the healing process has finished. The reasoning is that your jawbone has compensated for the loss of your last remaining teeth and gotten smaller.

How Long Before I Get Used to My Dentures?
New dentures feel awkward for the first few weeks or even months of wearing them. Eating and speaking with dentures might take a little practice but will eventually come with ease. A loose feeling is not uncommon either. Quite a bit of saliva flow, a feeling that your tongue does not have enough room, and minor irritation or soreness are also not unusual. If you experience irritation, please call the dentist.

How Long will Dentures Last?
Your denture will need to be relined, remade, or rebased due to normal wear. Rebasing means making a new base for your dentures while keeping the existing teeth. Also, as you get older, your mouth changes. These changes cause your dentures become loose, making chewing difficult and sometimes irritating your gums. You should at least see your dentist once a year for a checkup.

Partial Dentures

A Removable partial denture (RPD) is for a partially edentulous dental patient who desires to have replacement teeth for functional or esthetic reasons, and who cannot have a fixed partial denture (crown and bridge) for any number of reasons, such as a lack of required teeth to serve as support for a bridge (i.e. distal abutments) or because of financial limitations.

The reason why these prostheses are referred to as removable partial dentures is because patients can remove and reinsert them when required without professional help. Conversely, a "fixed" prosthesis can and should be removed only with the help of a dental professional.

Depending on where in the mouth teeth are missing, edentulous situations can be grouped under four different categories. Class I (bilateral free ended partially edentulous), Class II (unilateral free ended partially edentulous), Class III (unilateral bounded partially edentulous), and Class IV (bilateral bounded anterior partially edentulous)

Class I RPD's are fabricated for people who are missing some or all of their posterior teeth on both sides (left and right) in a single arch (either mandibular or maxillary), and there are no teeth behind the edentulous area. Thus, Class I RPD's clasp onto teeth that are more towards the front of the mouth, while replacing the missing more-back-of-the-mouth teeth on both sides with false denture teeth, themselves made out of either plastic or porcelain.

Class II RPD's are fabricated for people who are missing some or all of their posterior teeth on one side (left or right) in a single arch, and there are no teeth behind the edentulous area. Thus, Class II RPD's clasp onto teeth that are more towards the front of the mouth, as well as on teeth that are more towards the back of the mouth of the side on which teeth are not missing, while replacing the missing more-back-of-the-mouth teeth on one side with false denture teeth.

Class III RPD's are fabricated for people who are missing some teeth such that the edentulous area has teeth remaining both behind and in front of it. Unlike Class I and Class II RPD's which are both tooth-and-tissue-borne (meaning they both clasp onto teeth and rest on the posterior edentulous area for support), Class III RPD's are strictly tooth-borne, which means they only clasp onto teeth and do not need to rest on the tissue for added support. This makes Class III RPD's exceedingly more secure as per the three rules of removable prostheses that will be mentioned later, namely, support, stability and retention. (See the article on dentures for a more thorough review of these three fundamentals of removable prosthodontics.)