If you’re facing the loss of some of your teeth, you might be wondering whether you need to pull the rest of them and just get full dentures rather than a set of partial dentures. This is a hard decision and one you shouldn’t take lightly.
Here are some things to take into consideration for making this difficult decision.
How Long Will Your Remaining Teeth Last?
If you’re looking at losing the rest of your teeth within the next year or two, it might be better to remove your remaining teeth now so that we can perform a more comprehensive and unified restoration.
But we have to make sure that we’re giving your remaining teeth their best chance. After all, nothing is better than your natural teeth, and, at a minimum, preserving your natural teeth preserves your options of getting dental implants in the future.
Often, restorative treatments can have good success in preserving your natural teeth. Gum disease treatment has a very high success rate, as does a root canal, and some studies even suggest that teeth treated with a root canal are more likely to last a long time than dental implants, but that’s very much up in the air.
And, remember, it isn’t a question of which option is cheaper, it’s a question of which option will give you the best results for your oral and overall health.
Are Your Partial Dentures Preserving Your Jawbone?
We’ve talked a lot about bone resorption related to full dentures, but it’s not just full dentures that can lead to bone resorption. In fact, any time you lose teeth in a region of your mouth, the body may begin to remove the jawbone there.
And, as with full dentures, your partials can accelerate bone loss in these regions if they fit poorly, causing damaging pressure on the gums and bones. And the setup for traditional partial dentures means they are secured to your natural teeth with clasps and hooks that can accelerate decay and lead to early loss of these other teeth.
A better solution for your partial denture is to have it supported with dental implants, which will not only help maintain your jawbone, they can be incorporated into full implant dentures in the future. Obviously, the investment necessary for this type of partial denture, which is designed to last ten years at a minimum, isn’t always justified if your other teeth are failing and you’re likely to have to move to full dentures in the near future. So, again, everything depends on the projected lifetime for your remaining natural teeth.
If you would like to learn more about your options for quality dentures in Columbia, SC, please call (803) 781-9090 for an appointment with a denture dentist at Smile Columbia Dentistry.
