Dentures

It’s only natural to want to have a bright and healthy smile. Unfortunately though, many patients believe that they’ll never be able to accomplish this goal – especially if they have missing teeth. While you may feel like there’s nothing that can be done to get your beautiful smile back, as your Green Bay dentists, we at Oral Health Associates are proud to offer a solution – dentures. Dentures are a reliable and time – tested solution for treating tooth loss that we’d like to tell you more about.

How Do Removable Dentures Work?

Removable dentures, whether they’re full or partial, consist of a gum – colored base that’s made of plastic resin and fits over the remaining alveolar (bone) ridge that used to hold the teeth. The base will hold prosthetic teeth that are crafted to look and function just like your natural teeth. Dentures are held in place through the suctioning effect of their tight fit against the alveolar ridges. This makes it vital that the dentures are fitted properly; if they’re not, they’ll start slipping.

Wearing dentures may take some getting used to at first in terms of talking and eating, but as the muscles, nerves, and ligaments of the mouth learn to get used to the dentures, these basic functions will start occurring normally. With proper care, dentures will offer a functional, aesthetic, and economical solution to tooth loss.

Types of Full Dentures

There are three types of full dentures in Green Bay that we offer. They include immediate dentures, conventional full dentures, and implant – supported overdentures.

• Immediate Dentures – These are typically a temporary way to transition you into successful denture wearing. Because there’s a muscular readjustment period required – and because the gums will shrink when teeth are missing – these dentures will be placed immediately after tooth extraction . They won’t fit as well as permanent dentures, but they’re still fully-functioning teeth and they’ll give you some
  time to adjust.
• Conventional Full Dentures – After some time, we’ll be able to create permanent dentures that will conform to your mouth with unparalleled accuracy. These are crafted to look as much like your own natural teeth and they’ll be able to function properly in your mouth for a long time.
• Implant-Supported Overdentures – To increase the stability of a lower or upper denture and keep it from slipping, it can be securely anchored using two or more dental implants . Typically, the upper jaw will require more implants (often three or more) than the lower jaw due to a lesser bone density. This option will provide great comfort, functionality, and value.

Types of Partial Dentures

If you’re only missing some of your teeth, we offer the following
partial dentures:

• Transitional Partial Dentures – These are relatively inexpensive removable plastic dentures that serve as a temporary tooth replacement and space maintainer while you wait for your mouth to heal from tooth extraction. After the healing period is finished, dental implants can then be placed.
• Removable Partial Dentures – These are usually made of a metal-based cast vitallium and are much lighter and less obtrusive than dentures made of plastic. They’re a bit more expensive than plastic dentures, but they’ll fit better. However, they’re still less expensive than implants and fixed bridgework.

What to Expect After You Get Dentures

If you recently lost your teeth and received an immediate denture, it’s completely normal to find some bone loss and tissue shrinkage occurring. As a result, you’ll probably find that your immediate dentures won’t fit well. You have two choices at this point. First, you can have your immediate dentures relined. This means that material will be added under the denture’s base in order to better conform to the new contours of your alveolar ridge. Your other, better option is to move on to a set of conventional full dentures. These will last longer and fit better.

Visit Your Green Bay Dentists!

If you’re looking for dentures in Green Bay, you’ve come to the right place! Feel free to contact us at (920) 437-3376 if you’d like to schedule an appointment. Alternatively, you can fill out our online appointment request form. We hope to hear from you soon!