A complete denture is a removable prosthesis that replaces all teeth within an arch, thus some patients have only an upper denture, some only a lower and some have both upper and lower complete dentures.

Dentures are artificial teeth on a metal or acrylic base. Dentures can be removed or fixed.

Complete Dentures

A complete denture is a removable prosthesis that replaces all teeth within an arch, thus some patients have only an upper denture, some only a lower and some have both upper and lower complete dentures.

Advantages of complete dentures

• Least costly treatment for replacing all teeth in an entire arch
• Aesthetically pleasing
• Shortest treatment time from start to finish

Types of complete dentures:

Conventional dentures

• This type of complete denture involves having all of the teeth removed for at least 3-4 weeks prior to beginning fabrication of the denture. This allows the tissues to heal from the extractions so that the denture will fit accurately and the tissue underneath the denture is no longer healing and changing shape.
• Fabricating complete dentures in this way is very accurate, however, if a patient does not already have a denture, they would be without teeth during this time. Reasonable so, most patients do not want to function without teeth during this time. This is where immediate dentures come into play which can be given immediately after extraction of all teeth.

Over-dentures:

Over-dentures utilize either existing teeth or dental implants to rest the denture over the teeth/implant to aid in retention and stability. There are many different ways to design over-dentures.

Fixed dentures:

Fixed dentures are attached to implants. The colour of the acrylic matches and appears like the gums. They are convenient to use, prevent bone loss and are effective for chewing and speaking. They can replace multiple missing teeth and preserve the harmony of the environment inside the mouth. They also prevent the sinking in of the cheeks and the aged appearance which comes with the loss of teeth and keeps you looking younger. In case of these implant-supported dentures, the dentures lock on to the head of the implants facilitating additional retention. These dentures can be removed by patients for cleaning purposes.