Dentures and Implants: When Do You Need One?

Advancement in dental sciences has made it possible for implant supported dentures to become extremely affordable. Implants have become a substitute for weak roots of our teeth. Adequate bone in the jaw is necessary for these titanium posts to be inserted but once they have been fit, they resemble our natural teeth in such a striking manner that we cannot tell what’s real and what’s fake. Implant supported dentures have made it possible for a million lives to have their smiles and confidence back.

Be it due to age or bacterial decay, natural teeth is vulnerable to damage and tooth loss is usually accompanied by weakening of the jaw bone. This would in return bring those ageing wrinkles on your face, deprived of the support from the jaw bone. Dentures hence help to keep ageing signs at bay.

Types of Dentures:

But then there are two types of dentures – one that directly rests on the gums and the other that is supported by implants. Let us try to understand the difference between these two dentures:

• Dentures without implants would restore basic functions like chewing but are not a long lasting investment.
• A healthy bone structure is maintained in case of implant supported dentures. But in dentures without implants, the bone will recede and hence the fitting will need to be changed periodically.
• The bone quality remains unchanged if you use implant-supported dentures. The natural decay of the bone is not hindered by dentures without implants.
• Implant supported dentures help restore youthfulness. They bear close resemblance to natural teeth not only in appearance but also in its functionalities.
• Slippage is a usual problem that is confronted while using denture without implants. This problem doesn’t crop in the case of implant supported dentures.
• No extra creams are required in the case of implant supported dentures which might be otherwise necessary for dentures without implants.

However patients also sometimes like to have a permanent solution like a crown which cannot be removed. A dentist would be able to decide on what kind of implant fits you the best.

Implant-supported dentures:

Implant-supported dentures are usually recommended when a person has lost all teeth in the jaw. Also adequate bone in the jaw is a must for the implant to be fixed. Dentures without implants in the lower jaw are highly susceptible to slippage. Hence lower jaws are usually treated with implant supported dentures.

Proper cleaning of the implant supported denture is also very essential and would determine the oral health of the patient. They should not be used overnight and before sleeping, they need to be removed. Implant supported dentures are of two types:

• Bar-retained — A thin metal bar that follows the curve of your jaw is attached to two to five implants that have been placed in your jawbone. Clips or other types of attachments are fitted to the bar, the denture or both. The denture fits over the bar and is securely clipped into place by the attachments
• Ball retained — Each implant in the jawbone holds a metal attachment that fits into another attachment on the denture. In most cases, the attachments on the implants are ball-shaped (“male” attachments), and they fit into sockets (“female” attachments) on the denture. In some cases, the denture holds the male attachments and the implants hold the female ones.

Both of them have an acrylic base which resembles the gums and the porcelain artificial teeth is fitted into this base. A minimum of two implants is required for support.

The process of putting these implants is pretty simple. The front of the jaw has more bone and hence the implants are placed in front of the mouth. Also the absence of nerves in that area allows us to opt for this site. The whole process would take up to a time period of 5-7 months depending on various factors. If bone grafting is also required, then it would require more time. This process also accompanies surgeries and hence the time frame of a complete procedure would be a year’s time.