Dentures – Richardson, TX

Effects of Missing Teeth

According to the American College of Prosthodontists, the most common reasons why people lose their teeth include tooth decay, gum disease, and trauma. When you are missing teeth, you are bound to experience some negative consequences. Here are just some of them:

• Lower Confidence: When you have gaps in your smile, you may feel less confident about your appearance. This can affect both your professional and personal lives.
• Difficulty Speaking: Without all of your teeth in your mouth, it can be difficult to express yourself clearly. This can make it much more challenging for people to understand you clearly.
• Facial Sagging: When you are missing teeth, the muscles in your face aren’t being supported. This can make your cheeks appear hollowed out and your lips can become wrinkled prematurely. Both of these characteristics will make you appear older.
• Difficulty Eating: Chewing your food thoroughly is important for proper digestion and absorbing the vitamins and minerals you need.

What Qualifies You for Dentures?

Dentures are ideal for people who have experienced significant tooth loss or no longer have any healthy teeth in their mouth. People who receive dentures must be committed to maintaining a healthy oral hygiene routine and maintaining their restoration.

The number of teeth that you are missing will determine the type of denture you need. Dentures tend to be more affordable than other tooth replacement methods, making them a good option for patients who are on a budget.

Alternative Tooth-Replacement Options

If you don’t make a good candidate for dentures, other options may be ideal for you. You may want to consider the following:

• Dental Bridges: If you are only missing one or a few teeth a dental bridge is likely ideal for you. A dental bridge requires healthy teeth surrounding the missing tooth or teeth to support it.
• Dental Implants: To support one or more replacement teeth, a titanium post is inserted into the jawbone, so patients must have a solid bone structure. This option is more costly than traditional dentures, but it’s intended to last for many decades.

Learn More About Dental Bridges

Learn More About Dental Implants

What Are Dentures Made Of?

As fully customizable prosthetic teeth, dentures have been around for centuries helping patients reclaim their smiles. Made up of a base and artificial teeth, they mimic the look of a natural smile and deliver improved bite force and chewing ability.

Although there are two options for traditional dentures – partial and full – their bases are commonly formed from acrylic materials but may be crafted from porcelain, resin, metal, or nylon instead. With the ability to match a person’s gum color, they blend in beautifully for a more natural aesthetic. Another component of the base is the way they are attached. Partials include metal clasps or clips that attach to natural teeth, while full dentures use suction and denture adhesive.

The artificial teeth that are created for dentures are fabricated from resin or porcelain. Whether it is a full arch or only three or four teeth that need to be placed to fill in gaps, the materials used offer a natural look and feel that mimics tooth enamel and provides a more confident appearance.

The Denture Creation Process

Denture creation is a multi-step process that is handled by skilled lab technicians. Because each piece must be perfectly in line with all other components, it takes time to fabricate these prosthetics. However, once they are finished, patients can expect to be pleased with the results.

From measuring your jaw and taking impressions by our dental team to sending them off to the lab for the complete creation, it is a labor of love that goes into every denture that is produced.

Lab technicians build the artificial teeth as well as the base before using specialized instruments to hold everything together. After completing additional steps with wax dentures, you will try on the model to determine how it will fit. After making the necessary adjustments, you’ll go home with temporary ones so that you have something to wear while waiting for your finalized dentures.

Back at the lab, technicians use hot, boiling water to help melt any wax while a denture mold is created. Once any plaster is removed, your teeth are trimmed down and polished before begin delivered to our office.

Adjusting to Your New Dentures

After receiving your dentures, you can begin to enjoy life with a new set of teeth. However, there is an adjustment phase that you may not expect. Because of these foreign objects inside your mouth, you’ll likely develop a slight lisp that, with practice, will go away quickly. Also, you’ll need to learn how to eat without your dentures shifting out of place. Eating soft foods early on will help you to ease into a normal routine until you become more comfortable consuming more solid foods.

If you prefer, you have the option to add a denture adhesive to help hold your teeth in place while eating and speaking.

Factors that Affect the Cost of Dentures

The three most important factors that influence the overall cost of your dentures include the following:

• Preparation – This may include treatments like tooth extractions to remove decayed teeth or gum therapy to address gum infections beforehand
• Acrylics – The type of acrylics used for the base can be higher or lower quality depending on your budget and are color-matched to blend in with your gums
• Replacement Teeth – The teeth used for your denture can be made from either acrylic or porcelain, with the latter being the more expensive variety

Keep in mind that cheaper is not typically better. For something that’s going to be kept in your mouth for hours (and years) at a time, it’s better to invest in something that is of high quality and designed to last!

Are Implant Dentures More Expensive?

Implant dentures require the placement of dental implants before the restoration can be attached, which inherently makes the treatment more expensive. As a result, your tooth replacement will not slip out of place or shift while in use, making them more permanent and lifelike overall. Additionally, implant dentures largely pay for themselves in the long-term when you’re not forced to pay for replacement dentures (which occurs every 5 to 7 years on average).

Does Dental Insurance Cover Dentures?

Most of the time, dental insurance will provide some level of coverage for dental insurance. However, they generally only offer to pay for some of the costs associated with treatment. The level of coverage you receive will depend on the plan provided by your insurance company and can fall anywhere between 80% and 50% coverage. Our team is more than prepared to help guide you through the process of confirming your benefits so you get the best value possible.

Other Options for Making Dentures Affordable

Just because you don’t have dental insurance doesn’t mean you can’t still make your care affordable. Those who need to fit dental services into a budget can look into our office’s financing options. Not only do our solutions allow you to enroll into payment plans that range between 6 and 36 months in length, but you can expect little to zero interest attached in many cases. Additionally, our VIP Member Plan provides discounts on many services, including 15% on dentures!

If you’d like to learn more, please give our office a call to set up a consultation dedicated to dentures!

Removeable Dentures

Remove After Eating

First of all, remove and rinse your dentures after meals. This habit prevents a severe buildup of food debris and plaque. As a result, it leaves you better protected from oral infections.

At the same time, don’t use hot water for the after-meal rinses. Denture material warps when exposed to high temperatures. Consequently, rinsing with overly hot liquid could make your dentures not fit well.

Clean Your Restoration

In addition to the post-meal rinses, dentures also require once-daily cleanings. These remove harmful bacteria that naturally cling to your prosthetic teeth.

Once they’re out of your mouth, it’s simple to clean dentures. Just brush them with a soft-bristled toothbrush and some hand or dish soap. However, don’t include toothpaste in this process, as its abrasiveness harms dentures.

Follow up the brushing by soaking the dentures in a cleansing solution. From there, rinse the restorations before putting them back in your mouth.

Keep Your Dentures Safe

Despite their durability, dentures aren’t invincible; they can be broken with enough force. With that being the case, you’ll need to keep them safe.

Various options exist for protecting your dentures. For example, use a towel to protect it from falls during cleaning. Another idea is to store your dentures away from kids or pets. After all, such groups can easily break your new teeth by roughhousing.

Remove Dentures When You Sleep

However natural they might feel, you shouldn’t wear dentures to bed. These prosthetic teeth aren’t designed for overnight use. Instead, take them out before bed. You could even place them in a denture-soaking solution.

The fact is that wearing dentures to bed is bad for you. Doing so restricts your gum circulation, for one thing, leading to soft-tissue irritation. It also increases your mouth’s plaque levels and raises your risk of pneumonia.

Notice Changes

Watch for changes in your mouth or dentures to the extent that you can. (These include mouth sores, gum irritation, or signs of infection.) Depending on the shifts in question, you may need Dr. Shwarts for help.

If the changes include denture damage, don’t try to repair things yourself. You’d likely harm the restorations further. Instead, call our office – we could reline or replace the prosthetics.

All-on-4 Dentures

Since they rely on dental implants, All-on-4 dentures have unique care steps. These are the following:

• Twice-Daily Brushing – Brush your dentures twice daily with a soft-bristled toothbrush and a non-abrasive toothpaste.
• Once-Daily Flossing – Floss your replacement teeth once a day. If necessary, consider using floss threaders.
• Clean the Between Spaces – Use a sulcus brush to clean between your dentures and gums. (This kind only has one-third the width of normal toothbrushes.)
• Daily Mouth Rinses – To prevent the growth of tartar, rinse your mouth with mouthwash daily.