When Complete Dentures Are the Answer

Dentists enjoy repairing teeth, cleaning teeth, and helping people to smile. While most people prefer to maintain their own, natural teeth, saving teeth is not always in the patient's best interest. When is it time to consider replacing all of the teeth with full dentures?

Patients may choose to replace their teeth with dentures after a thorough evaluation by their dentist. The evaluation includes a a review of the patients health history, x-ray examination, gum exam, and an examination of the teeth. Then the dentist will discuss all of the patient's options. The patient and dentist will consider how long treatment will take, the cost of the treatment, and convenience. The final decision belongs to the patient.

Some recent cases:

Last month, a new patient with an unusual medical problem presented with loose teeth. The medical condition, scleroderma, constricts his lips so that he is not able to open his mouth as wide as the width of two fingers. His mouth is dry, a condition called xerostomia. Due to gum disease and scleroderma, his teeth lack the usual support of bone, so they are quite loose. Eating is complicated by pain, limited opening, and loose teeth. Unfortunately, it is impossible to fix this situation. Extraction and replacement of the teeth with full dentures are the only reasonable treatment.

Last summer, an 18 year old woman arrived for a consultation with the support of her father and younger sister. She was concerned that her teeth were broken and uncomfortable. Her history of drinking one to two liters of soft drinks every day took its toll on her teeth. Upon examination, every tooth was decayed; most teeth may need root canal treatment and crowns.

The young lady and her father were given three treatment plans. The first is to repair every tooth possible. At least ten teeth will need root canal treatment which will cost over ten thousand dollars. At least twenty teeth will need crowns or bridge, for a cost of about 30 thousand dollars. This plan will take many appointments and over a year to complete.

The second treatment plan includes treating certain teeth with root canal treatment and crowns. These teeth will anchor removable partial dentures. The total cost for this treatment plan is about 15 thousand dollars. This treatment plan will be complete in less than a year and will take about 20 appointments.

The simplest treatment plan is to remove all of the young lady's teeth after making a set of temporary full dentures. After several months, a second better fitting set of dentures will complete the treatment. The father and daughter were told to expect this treatment plan to cost under ten thousand dollars. The first set of dentures will be ready in two or three weeks, then the teeth may be removed. This young lady can have a new smile in less than a month.

After examining all of the options, costs and time commitment, this patient opted for full upper and lower dentures. Later, she plans to replace her missing teeth with dental implants.

A diabetic patient with gum disease has trouble controlling his blood sugar level. He has been through years of gum treatments including deep scaling and root planing, gum surgery, medications, and more frequent brushing and flossing. As this gentleman's gum disease continues to degrade, his dentist and physician begin to suspect that it may be impacting his diabetes. Extraction of all of this man's teeth and fabrication of dentures may help to improve his control over his blood sugar.

A young man, 20 years old, recently mastered a drug habit. Dentists know very well when a patient has an addiction to methamphetamine or meth. Patients appear very thin and pale. Their teeth suffer from large cavities especially at the gum line across all of the front teeth. Most of this young man's teeth are not repairable. His only reasonable treatment is to remove all of his teeth and wear full dentures. His fiance' is looking forward to seeing his new smile in a very short time.

Full dentures are not always the best choice for the treatment of tooth decay or gum disease. Most people prefer to keep their teeth even if there is a high expense or if it takes a lot of time sitting in the dental chair. If you think that this may be the right treatment for you, or if you would like to know how to avoid this kind of treatment, speak with your dentist.