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1. What are removable dentures?

Removable dentures, also known as flexible dentures, are a type of dentures consisting of false teeth fixed to gum.

Unlike other types of dentures fixed in the mouth, you can take the removable dentures out or put them back in your mouth easily by yourself, without the intervention of a dentist.

The difference of flexible dentures compared to other types of dentures is that they often consist of many teeth fixed to false gum, while crowns, bridges, veneers, implants do not have gums and sometimes only have a single tooth.

2. What materials are used in removable dentures?

They are made from materials such as porcelain for teeth, acrylic for gums, metal for framework

3. The candidate for removable dentures?

They are often used for the following cases:

• Elderly who lose all their teeth
• People who have lost a large area of teeth
• Patients use temporary removable teeth for gum restoration processes

The effectiveness depends on the strength and weakness of the jawbone structure. A healthy jawbone structure will help create more force, making it easier for the wearer to chew food.

4. What types of removable dentures?

There are two types:

a. Complete dentures

Also known as full dentures includes a full set of false teeth for either the upper or lower jaw or both. The complete dentures are often used for elderly people who lose all their teeth or patients who suffer damage teeth loss

b. Partial dentures

Unlike complete dentures, Partial dentures include a few teeth fixed to gum used to replace an area of missing teeth. Patients can choose to cast partial denture or acrylic partial denture depending on their needs

5. What are the advantages of removable dentures?

Flexible dentures bring the following advantages:

• Improve dental aesthetics: Losing a series of teeth or a large area of teeth affects the patient’s aesthetics, can lead to underbites and jawbone atrophy in the long run.
• Improve eating: Losing teeth causes patients to have a lot of difficulties in chewing, leading to loss of appetite
• Improve speech problems: Losing teeth also affect the ability to speak. At the same time, patients with missing teeth do not have confidence in communicating, reducing the need to talk
• Help the patient to be confident: A beautiful set of teeth will help the patient regain confidence

6. How about the disadvantages of removable dentures?

The natural teeth are lost leads to the bones of the teeth also lost over time by the natural process. The use of removable dentures puts pressure on the bones of the teeth, causing bone loss to happen faster than normal. The long-term shrinking of the jawbone will cause the contours of your face to collapse, causing premature aging.

The process of jawbone loss gradually develops, which means that the wearer must regularly adjust removable teeth. Besides, because it is not stable, the wearer is advised to avoid using much force on removable teeth. Therefore, removable dentures are recommended to be more appropriate for older people than younger people

7. The durability of removable dentures?

They are not stable in the mouth, so they are easier to clean than other types of dentures. Careful cleaning will help removable teeth have a long life. However, you should note that removable teeth are not permanently stable depending on the process of jawbone loss of each person. You should have regular checkups so that your dentist can monitor and adjust removable dentures to your oral condition every year

8. The cost of removable dentures?

According to American Dental Association’s nation fee survey from 2016. The average costs of removable dentures are as follows

• Removable complete dentures: between $1000- up to $20.000/ per arch depending on the material and custom-made
• Removable Partial denture: between $300-up to $2500/ upper or lower depending on the material and custom-made

9. How to protect removable dentures?

Like natural teeth, removable dentures need to be cleaned with toothpaste at least twice a day, including cleaning teeth and gums. Removable teeth need to be soaked in a cleaning solution to remove bacteria and stains every night.

You need to get used to soft, chopped foods at an early stage before starting with larger foods. Limit chewing gum, foods that are too hard, especially pay attention to avoid using a lot of chewing force, strong bite for removable teeth

Have a plan to periodically check removable teeth for dentists to monitor and adjust in time.

10. Should I use removable dentures or implant-retain dentures?

The choice of dentures depends on your needs and intended use. However, as mentioned above removable dentures will be suitable for temporary use cases or the elderly as long-term use of removable dentures can affect facial contours due to jawbone loss.

Implant-retain dentures will be suitable for young people, because the implant acts as a jawbone to help fix dentures, helping to maintain facial contours. However, the cost of implant-retain dentures will be higher than that of removable dentures and the implementation process is also more complicated.

Author: Xdent team