When you think of a denture, the first thing that comes to mind is likely the large pink denture base that slides around in your mouth and falls out when you laugh. Traditional dentures are a common way to replace missing teeth, as they have a long history of effectiveness. However, you may not know that traditional dentures are only effective initially. Eventually, they will become loose in your mouth because of jawbone resoprtion. At St. Apollonia Dental, we believe no patient should have to live with unstable dentures and their unfortunate consequences. Fortunately, we offer denture options that are stabilized by dental implants! With these strong titanium posts, you can secure your smile in place and enjoy maximum functionality and aesthetics.
The Issue With Traditional Dentures
When you lose a tooth, you lose both the crown (visible in your smile) and the root (below the gum line). Tooth roots are embedded into your jawbone to serve two important purposes. The first is to keep your natural teeth secure in your smile. The second is to stimulate the jawbone with pressure when you bite or chew. When you lose these roots, you lose that important stimulation, resulting in bone resorption. Over time, your jawbone will lose mass and volume, making for an unstable denture foundation.
Loose dentures have many unfortunate consequences, such as:
Difficulty eating: As your dentures shift around on your gums, your ability to chew is reduced. Tougher meats or hard vegetables can become impossible to break down with your dentures, resulting in a change of diet.- Denture sores: When you eat or talk, loose dentures often slide around in your mouth, irritating the gum tissue. This irritation can form into denture sores, which make wearing your denture more painful.
- Social isolation: Difficulty eating and perceived embarrassment often prevent patients from seeking social interaction with their loved ones. Unfortunately, this can result in self-isolation, which may lead to more serious problems like depression.
Fortunately, we use dental implants to secure dentures and restore your ability to eat, speak, and laugh with confidence.
Using Dental Implants To Secure Your Smile
At St. Apollonia Dental, we use two kinds of dental implants.
Conventional dental implants are larger and require a surgical procedure to place. Unfortunately, not everyone is eligible for this procedure, as it requires ample jawbone structure. Due to bone resorption, many patients don’t have enough jawbone to qualify for a conventional implant procedure. A bone graft may help, as it restores lost bone material, but it will add to the length and cost of your treatment.
To place conventional implants, we create an incision in your gums and use a series of increasingly large drills to make a hole in your jawbone. Then, we carefully insert the implant body and stitch up your incision to facilitate faster healing. Over a period of 4-6 months, the implant will bond with your bone and create a stable enough foundation for your denture.
Mini dental implants, in contrast, are about half the size of conventional implants and feature a unique single-piece design. Because these implants are so much smaller, we often place them for patients with minimal jawbone structure, even without a bone graft!
The placement process for mini implants is minimally invasive, as we create a small pilot hole through your gums instead of making an incision. After we gently screw the implant in place, it is instantly secure enough to support a temporary restoration. Rather than waiting months for your implant to bond with the bone, mini-implants take a few weeks before they are stable enough to support a final restoration.
However, it’s important to note that mini implants are not suitable for everyone. At your free consultation, we’ll perform a thorough examination of your mouth and take X-rays to determine which implant will be the best option for your smile.
Our Mini Implant Denture Options
We offer three distinct mini implant denture options:
- Snap-in denture: These dentures function similarly to traditional dentures, as you can remove them whenever you want. The important difference, however, is that this restoration “snaps” on and off your implant, providing the stability that a traditional denture lacks. With the added stability, we can remove the bulky upper denture plate, providing a more comfortable denture experience.
- Semi-removable roundhouse bridge: Though called a bridge, a roundhouse bridge is functionally a denture because it replaces your entire smile. The difference, however, is in the structure. Roundhouse bridges don’t require the traditional pink denture base, providing a more natural look. Semi-removable roundhouse bridges are secure on your implants and only removed by us at St. Apollonia Dental.
- Non-removable roundhouse bridge: Non-removable roundhouse bridges stay secure on your implants, permanently cemented in place. This restoration is the most similar to your natural teeth and provides an incredibly strong bite with a seamless appearance.
Try the Denture Options at St. Apollonia Dental in Sterling Heights, MI
You don’t have to settle for unstable traditional dentures at St. Apollonia Dental. We can secure your smile using innovative dental implants! With our implant denture options, you can eat, talk, and laugh with assurance that your smile isn’t going anywhere.
Book a free consultation today to start your journey to a more sturdy smile!
