Bone resorption is a major problem for denture wearers. After your teeth are removed, the bone that used to support them is considered surplus material by your body, which removes the bone and uses the nutrients elsewhere. As this process occurs, denture wearers notice changes in how their dentures fit and function.
This process is inevitable with removable dentures, so it’s important to understand how it progresses.
How Bone Remodeling Progresses
Bone resorption begins immediately when your teeth are removed. As soon as the teeth stop stimulating the bone, the body begins to remove it. But you might not notice the first stage of bone remodeling, as it just focuses on reshaping, not removing the bony ridge that supported your teeth.
Once the initial phase is complete, though, your body will begin removing the bony ridge that supported your teeth. Since this ridge was also supporting your dentures, you’ll notice that your dentures don’t fit as well as they used to. For some people, remodeling of the bony ridge may turn it into a sharp, knifelike shape. When your denture presses down on the gums atop this sharp ridge, it can hurt. This denture pain isn’t the fault of your dentures, but they may not be helping, either. Sometimes a soft liner can be used during this period to reduce pain.
But once the bony ridge is gone, you’ll have smooth bone that is called the basal ridge. The good news is that the basal ridge is sturdy enough to support your dentures. The bad news is that once you get down to the basal ridge, you might begin to experience sunken denture face. Your upper lip may begin to sag and fold inward. That’s because the bony ridge of the upper jaw projected outward to meet up with the lower jaw. The basal ridge is further back, so your upper denture won’t project as far forward as your natural teeth did. Without the support of teeth, bone, or even denture, your upper lip sags inward.
At this time, you may also notice that the front teeth of your dentures no longer have an overbite, as they initially did. Instead, you may actually have developed an underbite because of the backward movement of bone resorption.
Your face has also lost a lot of support and height from the resorption of jawbone. In the lower jaw, this is particularly pronounced in the back part of the jaw. With less bone material, the jaws will close together more tightly, leaving you with “excess” skin and other soft tissues, which shows up as deep folding, wrinkles, jowls, and turkey neck.
Eventually, even the basal ridge will begin to shrink until it is no longer able to support a denture at all. Fortunately, dental implants are still an option.
Counteracting Bone Loss with the Denture Fountain of Youth ®
Although only implant dentures can stop the loss of bone after your teeth have been removed, FOY® Dentures, the Denture Fountain of Youth ®, are designed to slow bone loss and to make up for lost bone. Excess pressure from dentures can speed bone loss, but FOY Dentures ® distribute forces evenly.
And FOY Dentures ® are designed to replace lost bone. Because they are very secure, teeth can be placed forward where your natural teeth were–this means you won’t have a sagging upper lip. And the dentures are designed to restore height in the back of the jaw, too, to reduce wrinkling, jowls, and turkey neck.
If you would like to learn more about FOY Dentures ® in Columbia, SC, please call (803) 781-9090 for an appointment with a denture dentist at Smile Columbia Dentistry.
