All of our mouths are slowly but constantly changing shape. While this may not cause a problem for most people, it can make life very difficult for denture wearers. As the shapes of the upper and lower jaw bones change, gaps can start to appear between the gum and the denture causing them to become loose over time.
The body naturally starts to fill these gaps with more and more gum tissue, meaning that even with adhesive pastes to hold the dentures in place, they will lack lateral stability, causing them to move around in the mouth while eating or speaking. Dentures can be adjusted regularly to try to minimise the problem, but this can be expensive, and a loss of stability cannot be avoided completely.
Thankfully, a solution is at hand. Implant-supported overdentures can be fixed or removable, but suffer from none of the stability problems associated with traditional dentures. Instead of the gummy tissue supporting the denture, metal implants placed directly into the jawbone keep the denture in place and greatly improve the wearers ability to eat normal foods and can even improve their ability to speak.
Implantology is One of the fastest growing and most advanced areas in dentistry today. Implants are normally used to replace one tooth at a time using a full crown. The implant itself is a metal screw which is placed into the jawbone and after a short period of time it can support the full weight of the replacement tooth.
Typically two to four implants are required per jaw to keep a full denture in place, but implants can also be used for partial dentures if necessary. Mini implants are commonly used for implant-supported denture procedures. As the name implies they are just a smaller version of the regular implants. There are also two types of attachment used in implant supported dentures, bar attachments or ball attachments. Typically ball attachments require less implants, as little as two, to hold the denture in place.
One downside to implant-supported overdentures is that using the technique usually lengthens the amount of time needed to complete the treatment by around three months. Once the implants are placed, they usually require three months to settle into the jawbone and integrate sufficiently to bear the weight and pressure of the denture. However, recent advancements in implant technologies mean that some dentists are able to place implants and dentures in the same session, although this is still not very commonplace. The denture still has to be prepared in advance, but this technique does mean that the treatment can be completed in a much shorter space of time.
Dentures typically have a lifespan of five to seven years even when well cared for, while implants have an average lifespan of ten to twelve years. This means that the denture will have usually have to be replaced half way through the lifespan of the implant. Dentures for the upper jaw tend to be more stable than those on the lower jaw and consequently don't normally need implants for stability. Implants for dentures in the lower jaw usually get placed at the front of the jaw as there is usually more bone there to support them.
Implant-supported dentures offer that much sought after stability and give denture wearers a renewed confidence in their own abilities.
