A denture is a removable replacement for missing teeth and surrounding tissues. Complete dentures are used when all the teeth are missing, while partial dentures are used when some natural teeth remain.
We have three types of dentures available:
- Acrylic dentures – Dentures are mainly made from acrylic due to the ease of material manipulation and likeness to intra-oral tissues, ie. gums. Most dentures made are fabricated from heat-cured acrylic polymethyl methacrylate and rubber-reinforced polymethyl methacrylate. Coloring agents and synthetic fibers are added to obtain the tissue-like shade, and to mimic the small capillaries of the oral mucosa, respectively.
- Chrome dentures – Dentures made from acrylic can either feel too thick for some patients, or if made thinner, be too fragile and fracture easily. This can be overcome by using a denture base made out of cobalt chromium (Co-Cr). They are often thinner (therefore more comfortable) and stronger (to prevent repeating fractures). They can be designed to cover less area of the palate compared with acrylic dentures.
- Flexible dentures – Flexible dentures are a kind of partial denture, but these ones are made of different materials than ordinary acrylic partial dentures. Most flexible dentures are made of a thin thermoplastic such as nylon, compared to the thicker, more rigid acrylic used in full dentures. They have clasps that are usually gum coulred that grip the adjacent teeth and are useful when there are only one or two teeth missing on one side of the mouth. As the flexible denture can be made to grip the adjacent teeth and not cover the whole palate.
Whatever denture you use, keep in mind that it will feel like a “foreing object” in your mouth initially. Nothing beats your own natural teeth!!
Dentures take time to get used to and the patient will also need to make some adaptions with their own neuromuscular control.
