COMPLETE DENTURES
Seattle Dental Implants & Prosthodontics – Seattle, WA
A complete denture (full plate), is a device that is inserted in the mouth replacing natural teeth that are no longer present due to trauma, decay or cancer. Dentures (and partials, explained below) provide support for the cheeks and lips, allowing the patient to maintain optimal quality of life and eat the foods that they would otherwise not be able to eat without them. Some patients are candidates for dentures but also have implants placed in their jaw. For these patients, instead of the traditional complete denture, an overdenture is made which allows the denture to ‘clip’ on to the implants via attachments (integrated into the implant) for a better fit.
Most dentures are made of acrylic resin (pink, natural-looking base) and can be fabricated at different sequences while undergoing treatment. A conventional denture is made after all teeth have been extracted and the tissues (gums) have healed. An immediate (also known as an interim or temporary denture) denture is constructed and inserted immediately after the teeth are extracted and allows for the tissue to heal and shrink prior to making a permanent denture. These teeth can be made of plastic, porcelain, or a combination of both.
An overdenture (another type of complete denture) is designed slightly differently and is used for patients that cannot maintain the best retention made with a complete denture or who have had implants placed in the past. An overdenture has Locator attachments that help secure the overdenture directly to the implants and that essentially ‘snap’ in as opposed to being screwed in to achieve the best fit.