Could an Overdenture Revolutionise Your Life?
When you lose your natural teeth, the inside of your mouth goes through a natural transition. The actual shape of your gums and the underlying bone structure will change, albeit quite subtly. This can make it difficult to adapt when wearing replacement dentures, and this can cause significant changes in both lifestyle and habits. What are the repercussions, and what can be done about this?
The Traditional Approach
For many decades, people who have been unfortunate enough to lose all of their teeth have been routinely fitted with complete dentures in order for them to regain some functionality. However, the repair mechanism of the human body has something to say about this process. After all the natural teeth have been removed, the supporting bone goes through a reshaping process, during which the height of the bone shrinks back a little. This often means that fitted dentures become loose quite quickly and become difficult to adjust to. This is particularly the case with the lower dentures, which often come into contact with the tongue during normal everyday movement.
Difficult Transitions
Some people choose to try and fix this issue by using dental adhesive to try and keep their artificial teeth in place while they eat and sleep. This may not be an ideal approach because of the chemical makeup of such adhesive. It may not be a good idea to ingest these ingredients on a regular basis.
Other patients, however, put up with loose-fitting dentures but change their lifestyle habits by eating food that is easier to masticate. They may turn away from nutritionally dense foods in favour of those that are high in fat simply because they are easier to chew.
Aren't There Any Other Choices?
These patients may well have considered the option of having a full set of dental implants instead of the dentures. For one reason or another, perhaps including cost, they may have ruled this teeth replacement option out. They may be able to take up another option, however, which is to use an overdenture.
What's an Overdenture?
This is essentially a compromise, but can be much easier to deal with and more cost-effective for the patient. In this case, only a couple of dental implants are featured, but these are put into strategically strong locations so that they can subsequently support a bridge. Thus, they can host a lower denture much more efficiently. This can provide a much better "fit" in terms of stability and retention and can be much more comfortable for the patient as well.
Getting More Information
Should you or someone you know be unhappy with your traditional removable dentures, have a word with the dentist and ask about the possibility of an overdenture.
