All About Dentures and Partial Dentures in Mauston

What Are Complete Dentures?

There are two types of complete dentures: conventional and immediate.

Your dentist will make conventional dentures in Mauston for you if you've already had your teeth extracted and your gum tissue has started healing. Your mouth will generally be ready for the dentist to place them between around eight and 12 weeks following your teeth extraction.

By contrast, your dentist will make immediate dentures for you in advance of removing your teeth and position them right afterward. Consequently, you do not need to be lacking teeth while your mouth heals from the extraction.

One disadvantage immediate ones have over conventional ones is that your dentist will need to adjust them more frequently in order to properly fit while your mouth heals. This is because, as your mouth heals from having your teeth removed, the gums and other teeth shift positions. Therefore, you should only plan to use immediate ones temporarily until your dentist can make conventional ones.

What Are Partial Dentures?

Removable partials, also known as bridges, are typically made up of replacement teeth attached to a gum-colored or pink plastic base. In some cases, the dentist will connect them to a metal framework to hold them in place.

Your dentist in Mauston may opt for partials if your lower or upper jaw still has one or more of your natural teeth left. They include a fixed bridge with the attached replacement tooth or teeth cemented into position between two crowns on the pair of teeth adjacent to the space each missing tooth has created.

In addition to filling in the spaces missing teeth have left behind, partials also keep other teeth from shifting position. Precision partials have internal attachments instead of clasps to attach them to the crowns adjacent to the gaps in order to give off a more natural appearance.

Alternatives to Conventional Dentures

As an alternative to this teeth replacement option, you can opt for dental implants. By using them to support bridges cemented into your mouth, you eliminate any need for this type of dental appliance. It usually costs more than dentures cost, but implanted bridges better resemble and function like natural teeth. Implants have become an increasingly common and popular alternative, although not every patient is a candidate for them.

Your dentist can also use dental implants to support dentures and provide them with greater stability. Implants are a critical component of All-on-4® Dentures, which use four implants to support around a dozen teeth, more or less.

Improvements to Conventional Dentures

For greater comfort wearing dentures, you can ask your dentist in Mauston for a soft denture reline, a layer of soft cushioning between the appliance and your gums that lasts for one to two years.

Call us now to speak with a Mauston dentist about the possibility of affordable, quality dentures for you and whether implants to support them are an option in your case.

How Dentures in Mauston Are Made

It takes several appointments and several weeks to develop affordable, quality dentures. First, your dentist or dental restoration and replacement specialist, known as a prosthodontist, will determine which kind of dental appliance is most suitable for you. Then, the dentist or prosthodontist will:

• Take a series of dental impressions and measurements of your upper and lower jawbones, including the amount of space you have between them
• Produce plastic patterns, wax forms or models for your future dentures that have their exact position and shape. You will try on these models multiple times in order for your dentist to assess and, if necessary, adjust its shape, color and fit
• Cast your final denture

After this process is complete, you will continue to see your dentist in Mauston periodically for adjustments to the appliance.

What New Dentures Feel Like

For the first few weeks after getting them, they could feel slightly loose or somewhat odd in your mouth. This will fade once you become comfortable putting them in and removing them and the muscles of your tongue and cheeks learn how to help them stay in place.

It is also not uncommon to experience minor soreness or irritation from first wearing new dental appliances and waiting for the flow of saliva to increase. As time passes, however, these problems will naturally dissipate.

Contact us today at Castle Rock Dental, so we can help you restore the function and appearance of healthy teeth.