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Implant Retained Dentures
How Dental Implants can Stabilise Your Denture for Unmatched Comfort
You may be unhappy with your dentures and seek alternative treatments. They might make tasting food difficult, or feel bulky and uncomfortable in your mouth. And although every effort is made to produce comfortable dentures, over time bone is lost from the jaw due to the lack of teeth, which can cause previously well fitting dentures to become loose.
Undoubtedly, the best solution to these problems is through supporting your dentures using dental implants.
Dental implant retained dentures are complete dentures that clip onto dental implants, which sit solidly in your gums much like natural teeth. This can be such that the denture is removable by the patient, or fixed and only removable by a dentist. They are very successful at eliminating, or greatly reducing, any problems found with traditional dentures.
£3950 – £7900
Why choose dental implants-supported dentures?
Stable and Strong
Implant retained dentures are very solid and stable in your mouth like your natural teeth would be. The mechanism of attachment (indirectly to your jaw bone through the dental implant screw) allows for only the natural minimum movement and flexion that would be expected with real teeth.
Comfortable
Dental implant supported dentures dont require a strong retentive grip around your gums for support as they gain their retention from the underlying implants. Because of this they are much less likely to rub or cause sores.
Retentive
Implant retained dentures have a unique mechanism of attachment, mimicking the way natural teeth are kept in place. It is because of this that dental implant supported dentures cannot come lose during eating or talking, and will only be removed through the a technique that your dentist will teach you. Because of this conversation and chewing will be much more natural and pleasant.
No Fixative Needed
Implant retained dentures do not require any fixative to keep them in place because of the successful fastening they have with the underlying implants.
Taste Your Food
Implant supported dentures are much less likely to restrict your taste, as it is not necessary to have material covering the majority of the palate: retention is gained mechanically from the dental implants. The less tissue covered, the more naturally you will be able to taste; this is a huge advantage of dental implant-supported dentures.
No Gagging
Implant retained dentures are unlikely to make you gag as they dont take up as much room in the mouth as traditional dentures, which require a larger amount of material to keep them in place.
Smaller Fit
Implant supported dentures are considerably less bulky than traditional dentures as retention is gained through attachment to dental implants and not through the addition of extra dental material.
Look Younger
When dental implants are placed into the mouth the bone around them attaches, greatly reducing the chances of bone recession (which happens naturally in the absence of teeth). It is because of this that the presence of dental implants can prevent the face from appearing sunken as most dental bone (which is integral for a natural face shape and profile) is maintained. Furthermore, as bone height is maintained, the likelihood of needing denture adjustments is reduced which results in long-term, comfortable dentures.
Two options are available at Scott Arms Dental Practice for dental implant-supported dentures and each come with their own significant advantages:
Locators
These types of dentures fasten into place over a number of single, discrete implants. This works much like press-studs on items of clothes and is often the desirable option when patients like to minimise the feeling of a prosthesis in the mouth, as only a thin later of acrylic is needed to support the denture.
Milled-bar
Dental implants are placed in the same way as locators, yet they are splinted together by a metal bar onto which the denture attaches. Though this option is slightly bulkier it is easily tolerated by most people and provides a more even load across all dental implants.
Some dental practices offer magnet-retained dentures, which attach magnetically to dental implants, but these are not offered at Scott Arms Dental Practice as it is not possible to achieve adequate results with them.
Denture implant procedure
Step 1 After deciding you want to have your dentures supported by dental implants your dentist is likely to use a CT scanner, a type of medical imaging that forms a 3D image, to create a picture of your jaws. This advanced technology allows for a unique patient analysis to determine optimum dental implant positioning depending on personal bone depths and widths, which can be accurately measured to the nearest 0.1mm.
Step 2 – A two-stage procedure is begun where a small incision is made in the gum, under local anaesthetic or sedation, so the site for the dental implants can be prepared in the bone beneath. Once buried, the dental implants are covered over with the gum, which is then stitched down: you will be given a temporary denture, which you are able to wear over the dental implants for the next few weeks. In this time the dental implants adapt to the bone around them, a term known as osseointegration; this is fundamental in providing life-long stability to the implants.
Step 3 – During the second phase the dental implant is exposed and checked before a small healing abutment is attached to the superior aspect, which the gum will heal around over the next few weeks. Your dentist is likely to take x-rays, along with more impressions from which the final denture can be made. This appointment usually falls around three months post-placement, which proves to be optimum waiting time before loading the dental implant. Here the bone can begin its second stage of osseointegration under the natural forces of mastication (chewing). This two-stage procedure gives brilliant-quality results and long-lasting dental implants.
Step 4 – After a period of wearing the temporary denture the permanent denture can be fitted.
Book Your Free Implant Assessment Now!
If you are unhappy wearing dentures and considering having dental implants – contact us on our dental implants Birmingham helpline: 0121 357 5000 or book an appointment online.