REMOVABLE DENTURES
Removable prosthesis can replace one or more missing teeth. Suitable for patients for which fixed prosthesis is not possible due to:
• Loss of too many teeth
• The supportive teeth can not withstand a fixed bridge
• Temporary solution prior to having fixed denture
Dentures can be divided into 2 types:
1. Denture held by the gums (mucosa)
2. Denture held by teeth & the gums (mucosa)
The material by which the dentures are made from can be:
1. Acrylic (plastic)
2. Acrylic & Metal
Unfortunately, many patients avoid having dentures at all cost which forces the dentist to compromise the dental treatment. Below are a number of reasons why patients do not want to have removable dentures:
• Make them feel or appear old. Dentures are generally associated with old people but this is not the case many children or teenagers wear dentures due to the early lose of their teeth.
• Unable to speak, the patient's ability to speak may be affected slightly in the first few weeks, but it has seen that patients learn to adapt very easily with the speech problem.
• Afraid the denture will not hold in position during speech or eating which may cause embarrassment. The design of the denture must be of such that it restores appearance, speech, and eating and must hold in position during these functions. In general the design of the denture and the correct steps taken by the dentist ensures that the denture hold is to its maximum. This depends very much on the bone & teeth present before making the denture
Dentures must be removed and cleaned with a soft tooth brush and placed in a container with water to prevent shrinkage of the acrylic.