Believe it or not the first dentures actually appeared over two thousand years ago in Northern Italy - that said, denture services have come a long, long way since.
Dentures Benefit Millions of Patients
Today's dentures are constructed from resilient acrylic plates and artificial teeth designed to match the natural luster of a gorgeous smile.
Since many older adults lose at least a few teeth as they age, partial (or complete) dentures that look great, remain comfortable to wear throughout the day and allow patients to chew food as they normally would are a godsend for many patients.
As everything from aging and wear-and-tear throughout a lifetime of chewing to tooth decay and gum disease can lead to partial or complete edentulism (tooth loss), dentures are becoming the way forward for tens of millions of patients.
Over half of the U.S. population is missing at least one tooth, according to findings from the American College of Prosthodontists, so crowns and dentures are becoming an increasingly popular solution to combat tooth loss and restore patients' smiles.
Recent Developments in Denture Services
The technologies and materials informing today's dentures are so convincing that family and friends often see the improvement as an overnight miracle. While the results can certainly look startling realistic, there are explainable reasons behind the advances in denture services.
- Better Fit with Retained Dentures
It used to be that wearing dentures was synonymous with fake teeth sloshing around in your mouth and needing to apply cream a few times a day to keep the dentures in place. No longer since today's dentures are fitted to the jaw arch using an acrylic base.
The acrylic base of the top denture covers the roof of the patient's mouth while the base of the lower denture is contoured around your tongue to allow seamless chewing. Dentists take impressions of your mouth's dimensions and send the results off to a lab. The lab then sends back the final product, which the dentist safely installs.
Retained dentures, as opposed to removal dentures, can even be surgically implanted into the patient's mouth and secured with snap connectors.
- Impressions Using 3-D Modeling
Denture impressions that make use of holography scanning devices to provide a three-dimensional image of the patient's mouth have many benefits. The most obvious is a better overall fit, less bone loss and ultimately fewer sore spots. The end result is less time spent on the impression process and more time spent getting on with life.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150722092010.htm
- Dentures and Painless Dentistry
Some patients want to know if they can have teeth extracted and dentures implanted on the same day, and the answer is yes. Thanks to advances within sedation dentistry, patients can receive the appropriate sedation and anesthetic, teeth extracted and dentures installed on the same day - after consultations and bite impressions, of course.
These kinds of "overnight" dentures are called immediate dentures, and they've already helped millions of Americans improve their smiles and overall appearance. Immediate dentures also have benefits that you might not have already thought of.
For instance, immediate dentures allow dentists to more easily mimic the size and contouring of the patient's natural teeth (if desired) while protecting the underlying gum tissue and reducing any undue bleeding associated with the procedure.
Immediate dentures, it should be noted, are somewhat more costly than conventional denture implants and not everyone is a candidate for immediate dentures.
- Dentures and Implants Now Compatible
Unlike dentures of the past, today's dentures can be fitted to be worn over preexisting dental implants. For readers unfamiliar with the intricacies of one or both, dentures are usually intended to replace multiple teeth using an acrylic base whereas dental implants can be a more involved process involving an incision in the bone and a process of osteogenesis.
http://www.manndental.com/blog/how-much-are-dental-implants
Having said that, dentures and implants are no longer mutually exclusive options for most patients since dentures can now be formulated to fit over existing implants. This would be a great option for a patient who lost teeth while young, received dental implants and, consequently, lost more teeth while a little older.
- More Accurate Impressions and Fit
Today's dentures provide patients with a more accurate fit since the process of getting an accurate impression has appreciably improved over the years.
Recent technology allows dentists and prosthodontists to get a more accurate impression of patient's jaw muscles in a relaxed condition.
This ability, along with other advances, allows dentists to install form-fitting dentures that stay firm in a patient's mouth even after heavy chewing.
Denture services based on more accurate impressions also facilitate a proper bite - food for thought! Are you as surprised how realistic today's dentures look?
