What are Complete dentures ?
Complete dentures are removable prosthesis, used when there is complete tooth loss and replacement is needed. The dentures are tissue supported and are advised to patients with adequate hard i.e. bone and soft i.e. healthy gingival tissue.
How complete dentures are supported in your mouth ?
Complete Dentures, seated on the oral mucosa and tissues, are under constant action of the oral muscles and the reason denture’s for retention in a patient’s oral cavity is the action of various forces stabilising the denture.
The principle behind a well seated complete denture is, the retentive forces acting on the denture should be more than the displacing forces. Thus the stability and retention involves the biggest part in stabilizing a complete denture.
What are the conditions to give complete denture ?
Complete dentures are given in patients who are completely edentulous or people with poor prognosis of the remaining teeth in their oral cavity. For example, patients with generalised recession, grade lll mobility or grossly carious teeth; extraction of such teeth are advised, and after removal, the patient is completely edentulous or no teeth, complete denture is advised.
Moreover the status of the ridge and soft tissue structure plays a key role. If there is adequate bone height and the ridge is not resorbed; then a good complete denture can be fabricated.
What is the procedure of a complete denture fabrication ?
- A brief case history of the patient is recorded, which has information on medical and dental history; followed by complete intra-oral examination of the oral cavity with focus on the status of the bone and soft tissue.
- Primary and secondary impressions of the ridge with surrounding supportive soft tissues are made with biocompatible impression materials .
- Casts are made, followed by fabrication of customized acrylic trays for taking detailed impressions of the sulcus or the deep borders and grooves in the oral cavity which helps in stability and retention of the dentures.
- The jaw relations viz, centric relation and centric occlusion are recorded on the occlusal rims or wax buildup, prepared on the customized acrylic trays.
- Teeth arrangement is done with special attention to teeth selection, which is dependent on factors like age, sex and facial contour of the patient.
- The patient is called for a try in. After a successful trial and rechecking in the patient, it is sent for final fabrication.
- On the final day of denture delivery, stability, retention, speech, chewing, all these things are evaluated. If everything turns out to be perfect and is satisfactory both for the patient and the dentist, the denture is delivered.
- The patient is asked to follow up after a week (or before if needed) so as to rectify the issues the patient faced while using the denture. Make the appropriate corrections and ask the patient to use and revert. This follow up can be done for at least 2-3 sittings, as denture adaptation needs time.
Instructions for Complete Denture Use
- Do not sleep with the denture in mouth. Even if taking a nap, denture removal is a must.
- The denture needs to be kept in a denture box with normal water and covered with a lid when not in use.
- The denture needs to be cleaned every time the patients eat. A special brush and toothpaste is there for denture cleansing. If the patient does not maintain denture hygiene, there can be severe consequences.
How Todays Dental Can Help You ?
We, at Todays Dental, provide you with the best treatment plans and options, taking into consideration all the aspects of your health and pocket.
Contact us for your oral health queries and doubts and we will solve them with the best of our capability.