I Am Loosing All My Teeth – What Are My Options If I Need Dentures?

Question:  I Am Loosing All My Teeth – What Are My Options If I Need Dentures?

A complete denture is no longer the best treatment for a person that lost his or her teeth and needs to wear dentures. The new standard of care is an overdenture that uses implants to help retain and support it.
There are several ways to make an overdenture and I will describe them in the following paragraphs.
I will talk about the lower jaw which is the most problematic of the two.
Starting with the simplest and most economical overdenture, you have:

The mandibular overdenture on four mini-implants.
This requires no surgery, as the implants are placed without cutting he gums. Also, if the patient has a denture that fits properly, it can be fitted over the implants and the cost of a new denture can be avoided.  Patients also like that the procedure is usually completed in one day.

An overdenture on two implants.
This requires two implants surgically placed in the area of the lower canines approximately and special attachments that help hold the overdenture in place.  The overdenture rests on the gums and you are limited to food textures that you can chew with a denture.

A bar overdenture on four implants.
This is more costly as it requires the placement of four implants and a bar made of a gold alloy that is screwed onto the implants splinting them together.  The overdenture then attaches onto the bar and the patient can eat harder foods since the overdenture now rests on the bar and does not transmit pressure to the gums which is a major cause of discomfort and denture sores.  I recently published an article on the mandibular bar overdenture that you may want to read.  The article can be found here:
http://www.dentalaegis.com/id/2012/04/the-mandibular-bar-overdenture

A fixed porcelain bridge or a fixed hybrid denture.
This is the final option and is the most costly since it provides the patient with an option that is not removable.  This requires the placement of a minimum of four implants but generally six or eight implants are more desireable and it replaces the missing teeth with a prosthesis that stays fixed in the patient’s mouth and can only be removed by the dentist.

Your dentist needs to examine your mouth and necessary x-rays to determine which of these options are available to you as this depends on your particular situation and available bone.

I hope this was informative and helpful to you.

West Palm Beach Dentist
Carlos Boudet, DDS, DICOI
1840 Forest Hill Blvd, Suite 204
West Palm Beach, Florida 33406
Phone: (561) 968 6022
Website: http://www.boudetdds.com
Spanish Website: http://www.palmbeachdentist.net
Blog: http://mywestpalmbeachdentist.blogspot.com/

About Carlos Boudet, DDS, DICOI

Dr. Boudet is a graduate of the Medical College of Virginia. After graduating with a DDS degree in 1980, he became a commissioned officer for the United States Public Health Service. When his tour of duty ended in 1982 he received an award for outstanding service. He was asked to serve as Dental Director for Florida Community Heath Centers, supervise the operation of four dental clinics around lake Okeechobee. He established his dental practice in West Palm Beach in 1983 and has been in the same location for 30 years. He is a Diplomate of the International Congress of Oral Implantologists, a member of the Central Palm Beach County Dental Society and a chairman of the Advanced Crown and Bridge course of the Atlantic Coast Dental Research Clinic. His articles on prosthodontics and implants have been published in several popular dental magazines.

2 Comments

  1. Is the “All on Four” teeth another option?
    I have seen people get all their teeth extracted and then get all on four teeth.

    • Yes Gregg,
      The All on Four teeth are classified as a Hybrid (the last category mentioned in the article above), and they are teeth that are held in place by four implants and replace all your upper teeth, or all the lower teeth andyou cannot remove them, only the dentist can.
      Carlos Boudet, DDS DICOI

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *