Patients who have been wearing dentures for years, find that they often tend to become loose and uncomfortable to wear over time. Loose dentures can also be painful or create mouth ulcers and sores. This can lead to difficulties in speaking and eating and force patients to withdraw from any type of social engagement.
Dental implants could be the answer to loose dentures in Essex. At Crofts Dental Practice, we can fix your denture to your jaw with dental implants. This treatment, also known as denture stabilisation, offers patients with dentures a permanent solution to tooth loss and can improve their quality of life significantly by helping restore their chewing and biting ability.
What are dental implants?
Dental implants are small titanium posts that are surgically inserted into the jawbone to support missing tooth roots. Dental implants have the ability to fuse with the jawbone, preventing its further deterioration and encouraging the growth of new bone tissue. Eventually, they create a stable and permanent base for replacement teeth such as crowns, dentures or bridges.
Denture stabilisation
Denture stabilisation is an innovative procedure that involves using dental implants to keep the denture in place. As part of this treatment, you will require surgery to have dental implants fixed into your jaw. Depending on the quality of your jawbone and other factors, you many require from 2-4 dental implants per dental arch in order to achieve stability and permanence. Once your implants have integrated with the bone and surrounding tissues for a period of time, your dentist will place the dentures on top of the implants through special clip-ons. This way you can still remove your dentures for cleaning, but will stay put once in place. In some cases, you may have the option to fix your dentures permanently into your mouth.
Benefits of denture stabilisation
Denture stabilisation offers many benefits. Firstly, the dental implants provide a stable base for the dentures, meaning that there is no risk of them coming loose. Implant-supported dentures restore oral functions such as chewing and biting, and allow patients to eat in public and socialise without worrying about their dentures slipping or coming loose.