Crowns (or caps) are used to restore teeth that have lost significant structure due to disease or fracture.

 

Life-Like Crowns and Bridges

Crowns (or caps) are used to restore teeth that have lost significant structure due to disease or fracture. We enjoy the challenge of making these restorations look as natural and life-like as possible.

Denture is prosthetic device constructed to replace missing teeth, and which are supported by surrounding soft and hard tissues of the oral cavity. Conventional dentures are removable however there are many different denture designs, some which rely on bonding or clipping onto teeth or dental implants. There are two main categories of dentures, depending on whether they are used to replace missing teeth on the mandibular arch or the maxillary arch. There are many colloquial terms for dentures such as dental plate, false teeth, choppers falsies & gnashers.

Causes of tooth loss

Patients can become entirely edentulous (without teeth) due to many reasons, the most prevalent being removal because of dental disease typically relating to oral flora control i.e.: periodontal disease and tooth decay. Other reasons include tooth developmental defects caused by severe malnutrition, genetic defects such as Dentinogenesis imperfecta, trauma, or drug use.

Advantages

Dentures can help patients in a number of ways:

1. Mastication - chewing ability is improved by replacing edentulous areas with denture teeth.
2. Aesthetics - the presence of teeth provide a natural facial appearance, and wearing a denture to replace missing teeth provides support for the lips and cheeks and corrects the collapsed appearance that occurs after losing teeth.
3. Phonetics - by replacing missing teeth, especially the anteriors, patients are better able to speak by improving pronunciation of those words containing sibilants or fricatives.
4. Self-Esteem - Patients feel better about themselves.

Problems with complete dentures

Problems with dentures include the fact that patients are not used to having something in their mouth that is not food. The brain senses this appliance as "food" and sends messages to the salivary glands to produce more saliva and to secrete it at a higher rate. This will only happen in the first 12 to 24 hours, after which, the salivary glands return to their normal output. New dentures can also be the cause of sore spots as they compress the soft tissues mucosa (denture bearing soft tissue). A few denture adjustments for the days following insertion of the dentures can take care of this issue. Gagging is another problem encountered by a minority of patients. At times, this may be due to a denture that is too loose, too thick or extended too far posteriorly onto the soft palate. At times, gagging may also be attributed to psychological denial of the denture. (Psychological gagging is the most difficult to treat since it is out of the dentist's control. In such cases, an implant supported palateless denture may have to be constructed or a hypnotist may need to be consulted). Sometimes there could be a gingivitis under the full dentures, which is caused by accumulation of dental plaque.

For your complimentary consultation please contact us to arrange an appointment.