Dentures Will Help Revitalize Your Smile
At our dental office in Beaverton, Oregon, our team of experienced dentists and denturist work hard to help restore our patient’s smiles back to health. For patients who have lost multiple teeth over the years, either due to dental decay or injury, dentures offer an affordable and lasting solution for the long-term health of their smiles.
When many of us think of dentures, we conjure an image of false-looking teeth that conspire to create an odd smile. Fortunately, dentures have come a long way, and now look just as realistic and natural teeth. Not only do dentures look and feel more realistic than ever, they also fit more comfortably and are far easier to wear.
Our dental team at Beaverton Dental Center understand that most patients have plenty of questions when it comes to wearing dentures. While we encourage patients considering getting dentures to schedule a consultation at our dental office in Beaverton, Oregon, we also want to provide a little more information about wearing dentures so you can determine whether it right for you.
With that in mind, here’s what patients need to know about wearing dentures.
What are dentures?
Let’s start with the basics and clear up any misunderstanding about what differentiate dentures from other replacement tooth options.
Dentures sit inside of the mouth and serve as a replacement for missing teeth. Unlike a dental implant and attached crown, dentures should be removed regularly for a proper cleaning.
When a patient still maintains a few natural teeth, partial dentures can work to close the gap that’s developed between teeth. When a patient has lost all of their natural teeth, a full set of dentures replaces those teeth to create a smile that looks, functions, and feels natural.
When should a patient consider dentures?
Patients begin to consider dentures when looking for a permanent solution for the replacement of missing teeth. As many of us grow older, we start to lose permanent teeth as a result of common oral issues like gum disease, tooth decay, and injury.
In addition to dimming how dazzling a smile, missing teeth cause a range of oral health problems. Not only is it harder to speak, smile, eat, and drink when missing teeth, the loss of permanent teeth can cause a complete collapse of our oral health.
When a gap is created in a patient’s smile, teeth that surround that gap start to slowly move and shift into the now vacant space. Over time, neighboring teeth will move to fill the gap, potentially leading to the development of a crooked, crowded, and misaligned smile. Depending on how substantial a shift, missing teeth may cause a misaligned bite to develop which can make eating and chewing uncomfortable.
As teeth move, the underlying bone structure that holds them into place deteriorates. This deterioration increases the risk of additional tooth loss in the future. So, not only do dentures help to improve the appearance of a smile, they can also help to protect a patient’s long-term oral health as well.
How does a patient get dentures?
The process of getting fitted for dentures starts by making an appointment to see the denturist at our dental office in Beaverton, Oregon, Mikhail Govshievich.
During your consultation, Mikhail will conduct an exam of your current oral health and make recommendations on the type of dentures best suited to meet your individual oral health needs.
Once the type of denture you’ll receive has been agreed on, Mikhail will take an impression of your mouth. This impression will then be used to create custom dentures.
Placement of a patient’s dentures begins immediately for those with no remaining natural teeth. For patients with teeth remaining, our dentists may need to remove some of their teeth to make room for denture placement. Whether any teeth need removing will be thoroughly discussed between our dentists and the patient prior to starting the procedure.
After the mouth has been prepared and the patient’s custom-made dentures created, our denturist will provide the new replacement teeth with instructions on how to properly care and wear them.