Dentures – Complete & Partials
Cornelius Dental Clinic understands there are many reasons why you’re missing some of your natural teeth. Regardless of this reason, you can choose between complete and partial dentures. Before deciding which one you’re the best candidate for, you must understand a little about them both.
Complete Vs. Partial Dentures
Complete and partial dentures will consist of replacement teeth that are affixed to a plastic, natural-colored base. While both of these look alike and function similarly, there is a difference.
Partial dentures rest on a metal framework that attaches to your natural teeth. Sometimes there are crowns placed on this framework, which serves as their anchor. The nice thing about partial dentures is you can remove them to clean your mouth.
Sometimes you’re not only missing some of your teeth, but you’re also missing part of your jaw. We’ll need to replace this with a prosthetic, which will require you to get a complete denture. This is because you won’t have any remaining teeth available to serve as an arch for your denture. Instead, the tissues in your mouth are responsible for completely supporting the denture.
Getting Your New Dentures
After we pull your teeth, it’ll take about four weeks before you can get your complete dentures. This is because your teeth will need to heal so we can take the impressions we need for designing your dentures. Some people feel uncomfortable being without teeth for this long. For them, an “immediate” denture may be a better option. This is a denture that we insert into your mouth immediately after we’ve removed your teeth.
Unfortunately, there is a drawback to them in the fact that your gums shrink as they heal. This means that we’ll need to either rebase or reline your teeth eve
Your Expectations Surrounding Your New Dentures
You’ll need to be patient when you get a new set of dentures because it’ll take about 30 days for you to adapt to having them in your mouth. During this time, you must learn how to talk and eat again. You may also experience some soreness or discomfort in your gums. This comes from the fact that you’re not used to having dentures in your mouth, rubbing against your gums. You may need to visit our office to have them adjusted, so they fit better. Once you’ve made it through this initial adjustment though, your dentures should last you for 5-8 years before you will need to get a new pair. They’d probably last you even longer if your gums didn’t shrink or change shape as you grow older.
There’s much information here for you to consider and you’re bound to have some additional questions that we haven’t addressed here. Please note that you can call Cornelius Dental Clinic at (971) 317-9323 any time. We would love to set up a time for you to come into our office to talk to us so we can see how we can best help you.