Are My Dentures a Disaster Because I Had Them Done at a Dental School?
Posted by Annmarie SanSevero
I had my dentures done at a dental school instead of a regular dentist. At the time I was just trying to save some money and I’d read it didn’t really matter who did your dentures. Now I am wondering if that is a mistake. I’m having a terrible time eating with them. It’s actually easier for me to eat without them in my mouth. Is this because I had them made at a dental school?
Sandy
Dear Sandy,
While I haven’t examined your dentures, I don’t really think the problem will be something that the school did wrong. Usually the work done at dental schools is high quality because they are being supervised by the instructors. It’s only less expensive because the appointments take longer because of that instruction and supervision.
Problems with Dentures
The truth is dentures have a lot of problems even when they’re done well perfectly.
- Gagging Reflex. The upper dentures are held in by suction so the plate is stiff. Patients with a strong gag reflex find this challenging.
- Chewing Problems. Even the best fitting dentures will reduce your chewing capacity by 50%. This tends to significantly change your diet.
- Speech Issues. Some patients find it difficult to pronounce certain letters the way they’re used to if the acrylic alters their tongue space or when the dentures slip a bit.
- Facial Collapse. This is by far the most serious of the issues. So I”ll go into it with more depth.
Facial Collapse
When your teeth were removed, your body immediately began to resorb the minerals in your jawbone. It does this because it recognizes that you don’t have any teeth roots in your mouth. It figures if you don’t need to support your teeth, you don’t need that jaw bone. So, it uses the minerals elsewhere in your body.
This results in your jawbone shrinking. After ten or so years, you will no longer have enough bone structure left to keep in your lower dentures at all.
The solution to this is to get implant supported dentures. You can have dental implants placed in your jaw and anchor your dentures to them. The implants serve as prosthetic teeth roots so your body recognizes that you still have teeth and it leaves the minerals in your jawbone intact.
This blog is brought to you by a gentle cosmetic dentist in Franklin, TN, Dr. Christopher Weber.
