Can You Wear Dentures If You Have Suffered Bone Loss?
Tooth loss affects your appearance, self-esteem, chewing ability, and pronunciation of some words. People lose teeth due to dental trauma, tooth cavities, or periodontal diseases. After tooth loss, it is typical for the bone that previously supported your teeth to get absorbed into the body.
Bone loss creates a problem by limiting the dental restorations that a dentist can use. For example, you cannot have a dental bridge if you do not have sufficient bone structure in your jaw. Fortunately, a dentist can use dentures in Bronx, NY, even after significant jaw bone loss. Read on for more about dentures and their benefits.
Types of Dentures
There are various types of dentures used by the dentist in Bronx, NY, to replace missing teeth. They include:
- Full dentures
These consist of the upper and lower sets of dentures. They are suitable for replacing teeth on the entire maxillary and mandibular arches. Full dentures consist of denture teeth made out of porcelain or resin composite. These are held together by a metal or an acrylic base. They rest on the gum tissues and are positioned via suction or denture adhesive.
- Partial dentures
They replace a few missing teeth in the upper or lower jaws. Partial dentures consist of replacement teeth attached to a gum-colored plastic base. They are connected by a metal framework that helps them stay in place in the mouth. These dentures are removable.
- Temporary dentures
They are also known as immediate dentures since they are fitted right after teeth extraction. They are used for a short while as permanent dentures are being created. Temporary dentures help the patient carry on as usual as possible during the waiting period. They allow your mouth to heal and reduce the chewing pressure on the remaining teeth. In addition, they prepare your mouth for permanent dentures.
- Implant-supported dentures
These are used using dental implants instead of clasps, suction, or denture adhesive. Implant-supported dentures are connected to the jawbone using abutments, making them removable. A patient can easily take them out to clean the underlying gums or when sleeping. These dentures are durable and easy to maintain, making them an ideal solution to tooth loss.
Tooth Restoration with Dentures after Bone Loss
The best restorations used when you have suffered bone loss are implant-supported dentures. They are made of natural-looking tooth crowns that are set in denture plastic and supported by implants.
The Bronx dentist, may recommend bar or ball retained implant-supported dentures. Ball-retained dentures consist of artificial tooth roots made from titanium. The dentist will strategically select the jaw areas with less significant bone loss to embed the posts.
These posts support the dentures. They give them a solid base to function and look like natural teeth. In addition, they help stimulate bone regeneration. As a result, the lost tissues are restored, improving the patient’s facial appearance. Ball-retained dentures help fill in the face restoring aesthetic harmony.
An alternative is the bar-retained dentures. They contain a metal bar fitted inside the gums above the jawbone. This type is used for patients who have had missing teeth for a long while before seeking dental restorations. Bar-retained dentures do not stimulate the jaw bone. However, they help support the dentures and keep them firmly in place.
Wearing and Using Dentures
The first few weeks of wearing the new dentures will be uncomfortable. In addition, you may have minor irritation, increased saliva, and soreness. Fortunately, they will diminish once the muscles in your mouth adjust to accommodate the dentures.
Eating using dentures will require practice. First, consume soft foods or cut your foods into chewable pieces for the first few weeks using the new dentures. Then, chew slowly using both sides of the mouth to prevent gum soreness. Once you get used to chewing with the dentures, avoid foods that are hot, hard, sticky, or contain sharp-edged bones.
Although dentures help improve speech affected by tooth loss, the change is not instant. You may have difficulty pronouncing some words for the first few days. However, you will notice an improvement when you practice pronouncing the words. Contact the dentist for adjustments if the dentures make a clicking sound when talking.
Schedule a consultation at BX Dental to start the journey of restoring your teeth with dentures.