Full Denture
When all teeth are missing from an arch, replacing them with a full denture benefits a patient’s appearance and health. Without support from the denture, facial muscles sag, making a person look older. Dentures make it possible to eat and speak—things that people often take for granted until their natural teeth are lost. The upper denture is held in place by suction, the saliva acts as a seal. The muscles of the cheeks also help to a lesser degree. The lower denture is held in place by gravity and mainly by the muscles of the cheeks and the tongue.
Partial Denture
If only some teeth are missing in the arch, Dr. Mulroy can create a partial denture. It is important not to leave open spaces in your smile because these can lead to drifting of the remaining teeth, which in turn leads to damaged tissues, decay and periodontal disease due to the difficulty of cleaning between the teeth. Another very important change due to this drifting of teeth is also a change in your bite and a malposition of your teeth. This can cause problems with function or biting and eating, aesthetics or the cosmetic appearance, and more extensive procedures to be needed to restore missing teeth. Fitting false teeth between healthy remaining teeth can provide better fit than a full denture and will fill out your smile.
Overdenture
When you lose teeth, the bone that supported them disappears with time. This leads to problems later as dentures may start to rock, your face may appear sunken, and eating may become difficult. One solution is to not extract certain teeth which are decayed, but instead to remove the crown of the tooth and prepare the root of the tooth to remain in place. The tooth then acts as a support under the denture and also decreases the level of bone loss. Treatment with these dentures tends to be more expensive than a partial denture as teeth need to have root canal treatment and small fillings or copings over the root.
Become a part of our family. Contact Us to schedule an appointment with Dr. Mulroy and discuss how we can help you create your most beautiful smile.