Denture care tips
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Crooked teeth can be replicated with custom dentures
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One patient asked for a gold tooth
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Natural looking dentures are our hallmark
Take a look at any glossy magazine, TV advertising and our red-top newspapers, and you’ll soon become aware that appearance is high on the priority list of an image-conscious society.
We have spent more than a decade campaigning to rid the stigma from dentures and trying to educate people that quality, custom dentures can enhance looks. While we would never say we have facelift dentures, each ‘look’ can be as personalised as the patient wishes, and some really can take years off you.
Figures show younger patients being prescribed dentures – almost a million people aged 16 to 44 have false teeth. Gone are the times when dentures were just for the elderly, and a younger, more discerning market is emerging with a choice as a primary demand.
On average there are 200,000 new denture wearers in the UK every year.
There are many reasons why people lose their natural teeth and then prosthetics of one kind or another become necessary.
Among the many causes of tooth loss are:
- Various gum diseases
- Malnutrition
- Illnesses
- Medication
- Tooth decay
Custom dentures created in our in-house laboratory
Recovering lost smiles
Without the ability to chew correctly eating is compromised along with talking. Other problems include gastric issues, loss of self-esteem and social anxiety caused by the embarrassment of tooth loss.
Getting new false teeth should be the least of worries for this clinically challenging group of people, and we desperately want to make it as easy as we can for our patients. One of the most frequently asked questions in our surgeries is “how will my dentures look?”
Embedded within the psyche of all of us is a desire to look our best. When teeth are lost the “before” picture is not always a pleasant one.
In prescribing new dentures, the “after” picture aims to correct many of the issues we encounter with our natural teeth. Twists, gaps, crowding, clumsy looking repairs the list goes on, are all fixed, and the denture should be both functional and aesthetically pleasing.
In the past, we have recovered lost smiles by using old photographs of patients, and one gentleman insisted his denture should include all of the crooked teeth nature gave him. He didn’t want anyone to know he’d had his teeth extracted and was wearing a denture.
Another man required a gold tooth set in his upper crown. Along with the colour, the shape of teeth and the facial support offered to lips and cheeks; good denture manufacturing should be able to accommodate all such patient preferences.
Whatever the patient choice, natural looking dentures are our hallmark.
New generation dentures
Currently, in our lab are some new generation dentures with the supporting material for teeth replicating the strength of bone. Ultralight, they will probably become the prosthetics of our tomorrows as this technology becomes more accessible.
In an ever-developing profession, the patient options continue to grow and we are committed to remaining on the very cusp of all things new.
So you want a customized look? It’s really no problem. With our own laboratory on the premises and some talented technicians, the quality control is fastidious and the palette of options as big as the imagination.
These days quality, hand-made custom dentures can look stunning and only clinicians could tell the difference between real and replacement teeth. With advances in equipment and materials, getting new custom dentures is more of a science than it has been in the past. At one time, all false teeth were made the same way so every wearer had a similar set of false teeth.
Implant options
Today, aesthetics and customisation play an important role in any prescription. Across all of the age ranges, people deserve to recover lost smiles and if dentures don’t appeal, a wide range of implant options are available at the Denture Clinic at North Street, Dudley.
Overdentures are very popular and allow us to bring added support to the facial features to help recover not just smiles, but looks too. These clip on to implant abutments like small press-studs and can be removed by the patient for cleaning, but there are permanently fixed implant options also.
These can include:
- Implant-supported single or multiple crowns
- Implant-supported permanent full upper or lower arch of teeth
- Implant-supported bridges
- The ‘teeth in a day’ procedure – where a whole arch of permanently fixed teeth can be secured on implants in a single day.
Our implant surgeon, Dr Owain Rees BDS DGDP (UK) Dip Imp Dent (UCL) has more than 25 years’ experience placing implants, Owain was in the vanguard of UK implant therapy while working as a house officer in oral surgery at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
“Very early on I was exposed to implant work and placed my first in the late ‘80s. Since then I’ve continued with a special interest in this field,”
Our patients love him – friendly, accessible, hugely talented as a surgeon and a genuinely lovely guy to meet. If you need help getting a new denture book in with us – the first consultation is complimentary.
Owain talks about the implant teeth procedure in a fascinating article on our sister blog over on the North Street Dental and Implant Clinic website. Highly recommended reading if you are considering dental implants.
