INFORMED CONSENT ABOUT DENTURES

Millions of people wear and function well with traditional dentures.  Although it is a wonderful thing that people without teeth (or who have severe problems with their teeth) have this relatively inexpensive alternative available to them, dentures are NOT like your natural teeth, and the decision to go into dentures should be carefully thought out. 

ADVANTAGES OF DENTURES:

·        This is often the least expensive way to resolve problems with loose, badly decayed, or very unattractive-looking teeth.

·        Dentures resolve the tooth decay problems of those with a sweet tooth, the gum disease problems of those with poor cleaning habits, and the sensitivity problems of those with very hot or cold sensitive teeth.

·        Dentures make it possible to have whiter, straighter teeth than would otherwise be possible without a great financial investment. 

DISADVANTAGES OF DENTURES:

• It may take time to get used to wearing them.  Even with identically constructed dentures, one person’s experience may be very different from another’s.  This is mostly due to the wide variation in the shapes of people’s mouths and the size and firmness of their gums (although a good attitude goes a long way). Learning to talk fluently may be more difficult than with natural teeth and can take some time and practice.  Chewing is different than with natural teeth and some foods may taste different or be more difficult or impossible to eat. 
• Traditional dentures are not anchored in bone like natural teeth.  Instead, they sit passively on top of the gums.  For this reason they can tend to move about some (especially lowers).  People with firm, wider, taller gums tend to have “tighter” fits than those with flabby, narrow, or shorter gums.  Those who want less movement than is possible otherwise may desire either to use adhesives (which are inexpensive) or implants (which are surgically placed and more expensive) to anchor the dentures more firmly.
• Although “toothaches” are no longer possible, it is still possible to get sore spots on your gums that may indicate an adjustment, reline, or (in the case of older dentures) a remake is in order.

IMMEDIATE DENTURES

If all of a patient’s teeth are already missing or extracted, it is possible for us to prepare a “try-in” of the final denture before it is finished.  This lets both us and the patient see in advance what the dentures will look like in their mouth.  But many of our patients are uncomfortable with the idea of going weeks or months without teeth (waiting for their gums to heal).  For this reason, we will often recommend “immediate” dentures.  In this case we only do limited extractions at first and temporarily leave enough anterior teeth for a “smile” while the gums are healing in back.  We take impressions and make the denture first, then remove the remaining teeth and place the denture immediately.  This means never having to go without a smile---we replace your “old” smile with the “new” one the same day.  Then, because gums shrink for a while after extractions as they heal, after about 6 months of healing, we recommend what is called a “reline” to add plastic to the inside of the denture and “tighten” up any looseness caused by the gums shrinking.  In some cases if there is dissatisfaction with the cosmetics we will remake the denture(s) at a reduced cost. This cost of this relining or remaking procedure, if desired, is paid for at the time it is done (it is not a part of making the initial denture).