Franklin Dental Center offers different types of dentures for patients with missing teeth. Is a large part of your smile missing? Are you missing an entire arch of teeth? We can quickly restore your confident, complete smile with dentures in Tyler! Dentures have been around for hundreds of years, and modern dental technology and materials have made this classic restoration more durable, lifelike, and comfortable than ever before!
Read on to learn more about dentures and give us a call when you’re ready to restore your full smile. You can learn more about our practice by checking our business page, and make sure to get directions before heading our way.
Dentures come in a variety of types and styles to suit different needs. During your consultation, we’ll discuss your tooth replacement goals, review your medical history, and inspect your mouth to help you determine which one is best for you.
Partial dentures are designed to replace certain teeth along the top or bottom arch of the mouth like a puzzle piece. They’re held in place with small clasps that wrap around your remaining natural teeth.
Full dentures replace an entire top arch, bottom arch, or both. They’re custom-made to fit snugly over your gums, which creates a natural suction that holds them in place. If you recently had one or more teeth extracted, we’ll wait for your mouth to heal completely before placing your dentures.
Unlike conventional full dentures, immediate full dentures are designed to be placed in the patient’s mouth directly after a tooth extraction. This allows the patient to continue to enjoy a lifelike and functional smile while their oral tissues heal. Once this process is complete, the patient will return for a follow-up appointment to adjust the denture so it fits perfectly.
It is very likely that your denture will feel a little awkward at first. Many patients have trouble with determining where their tongue should naturally lay, while others have issues with the looseness of the prosthetic. It’s natural to experience a slight change in speaking and eating habits. We recommend using a small dab of denture adhesive and starting off with a diet of soft, nutritious foods. During this adjustment period, be patient with yourself as you learn how to work your new smile. After a month or so of practice, your denture should begin to feel like natural teeth. If it does not, please let our team know so that we can help!
Although dentures are not your natural teeth, they should still be cared for in the same fashion. Brush them thoroughly with a soft-bristled denture brush at least once a day to remove any lingering plaque and bacteria. Then, soak your denture overnight in a cup of water or denture cleaning solution. Be sure to avoid using hot water or harsh chemicals to clean your dentures, as this can warp them. Also, make sure to handle your denture carefully! If you drop them, they can become significantly damaged.
Dentures are a popular tooth-replacement option because they offer benefits like:
Before we can give a specific price for your new tooth replacement, it’s important to understand that dentures are a highly personalized restoration that is customized to your exact needs. That means that depending on what those needs are, your costs can be higher or lower. Ahead of your initial consultation, we encourage you to learn more about the most influential factors when it comes to costs for your new prosthesis.
The three most common factors that influence the cost of dentures include preparatory treatments, materials used for the denture base, and the materials used to create the restorations that fit into the denture itself. Keep in mind that cheaper is not always ideal, especially for something you’re using day-to-day.
Implant dentures tend to be more expensive than traditional options because they rely on a series of dental implants to keep the denture stable. This makes your tooth replacement not only more reliable, but more permanent as well. It also allows you to eat a more expansive diet and smile with added confidence knowing your denture won’t slip or shift out of place. Compared to dentures, they last much longer too; dentures need to be replaced every 5 to 7 years, while implant dentures can last for decades.
Dentures are typically considered a major procedure by dental insurance plans, which means they tend to be covered around 50% by benefits. However, you should always check your plan’s details first before making a decision on your dental treatments. Our office is more than prepared to not only go over your benefits with you directly, but help you create a plan to finance your care in a way that fits your budget.
Just because you do not have dental insurance doesn’t mean you can’t make your dentures affordable. Franklin Dental Center is happy to offer third-party financing options like LendingClub, a service that allows you to make low-to-zero interest, monthly payments on dental treatments over a longer period of time. This makes it an ideal solution for more expensive services like dentures.
If you’d like to learn more about your financing options, we encourage you to give our office a call today to speak with our team members. We hope to hear from you soon!
Obviously, you want to complete the denture process as quickly as possible so that you don’t have to go too long without teeth. But it’s still important to know what you’re getting into before you begin the process, which is why we always encourage our patients to ask any questions that are on their minds. You can call our office any time with your own inquiries, but first we invite you to check the below FAQs to see if you can find the answers you’re looking for.
You won’t need to have any teeth removed to get partial dentures, but full dentures are another story. We always prefer to preserve natural teeth whenever possible, so we’ll only recommend tooth extractions when the situation absolutely demands it. In general, if you’ve already lost most of the teeth in an arch, we may remove the rest to make room for a full denture. We may also perform an extraction if most or all of your teeth are severely decayed or are likely to fall out anyway due to gum disease. No matter what the situation, though, we will go over all of your options carefully before moving forward.
You’ll keep your dentures in your mouth for 24 hours straight when you first receive them, but past that point you should make a habit of removing them every evening. Wearing dentures for too long can take its toll on your gums, irritating the tissue and possibly speeding up bone loss. (This is due to the dentures restricting the flow of blood in the mouth, which means the jaw isn’t getting the nutrients it needs to maintain a healthy bone.) Also, wearing dentures for too long is associated with poor oral hygiene and high levels of gum plaque, as there’s a greater chance of bacteria multiplying in the moist space between the tissue and the prosthetic.
Getting dentures will dramatically broaden your options at mealtime, but there are still special considerations you have to make when it comes to the foods you enjoy. Be careful around sticky treats that might dislodge your dentures, hard foods that can damage the prosthetic, and tough, chewy foods (such as steak) that require a lot of effort and put excessive amounts of stress on the dentures and gums.
Even though dentures very convincingly resemble your natural teeth, you shouldn’t use toothpaste to clean them. You may not realize it, but many toothpastes are actually mildly abrasive, and that makes them prone to leaving scratches on the surface of dentures. Eventually, brushing your dentures with toothpaste can wear them down and cause serious damage. You can use specialized denture cleaner, hand soap, or mild dishwashing liquid to safely remove bacteria and food particles from your dentures. (If you use a toothbrush, make sure it has soft bristles.)
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