Dentures
Your dentures should ensure your face and smile takes on a natural and often younger appearance and support your lips. They should also be comfortable and functional.
Are you due for new dentures?
Treatment plans and process
An initial consultation providing a comprehensive treatment plan is discussed to provide your specific treatment and care with all appropriate options and information included. We want to ensure the best results for you and treatment will only commence once approval of the plan has been received. Bring along your current dentures or dental devices you may have.
Once you approve the treatment plan we will take primary impressions of your upper and lower arches using accurate impression materials to construct custom impressions trays to fit the outline of your oral tissue to the correct extensions and take a second Impression. At this stage we record tooth details including shade, shape, size, colour and mould type.
Dentures are then created as a try-in using wax in the exact shape and position of the denture to be made. At this stage, we evaluate and assess functional bite relationship with teeth, finalise any further bite adjustments and assess tooth colour, shape, and fit and discuss any changes before the final denture is processed.
At insertion stage, we supply and fit your dentures. We check your bite/occlusion, extension of dentures and adjust accordingly (if required) and phonetics. You will be provided with instructions on insertion and removal of your dentures, how to clean and care for your dentures and any food/eating requirements or suggestions.
A review or one week assessment is recommended if you are having any issues.
Dentures
Constructed to replace missing teeth and supported by the surrounding soft and hard tissues of the oral cavity, dentures are conventionally removable. The teeth we place on dentures reproduce natural tooth shape and form and are of premium quality materials providing a more realistic look to your dentures. Using the correct teeth improves the ability to chew food more efficiently, as digestion starts in the mouth.
Partial dentures acrylic and metal
Partial dentures are essential for the conservation of natural teeth. Partial dentures are commonly made of two types of material, acrylic or cobolt-chrome metal. There are also choices of acrylics and metals that can be used as the denture base which vary in strength, colour and thickness. All remaining natural teeth and tissues need to be checked prior to construction of a partial denture ensuring that the natural teeth are healthy enough to support the artificial teeth. The retention of a partial denture is obtained by attachment to your natural teeth, using stainless steel or metal clasps. These metal clasps are precise in fitting. Partial dentures need to be checked regularly as do natural teeth to maintain good oral health.
Flexible dentures
Flexible dentures are made of a thin thermoplastic, compared to the thicker, more rigid acrylic used in full dentures. While flexible partial dentures are much harder to break than traditional dentures, they generally cannot be repaired or added to. If you break them, it will most often require a full replacement.
Immediate dentures
An immediate denture is made before teeth are removed. The denture is then placed in the mouth straight after teeth are removed so you are not without teeth.
Your denture will be made while your teeth are still in your mouth. On the day your teeth are removed, the immediate denture will be ready to insert. Your dentist will remove your teeth and the denture is then placed in the mouth at the same appointment. You will be provided with advice on caring for your mouth and immediate denture.
After teeth are removed, the bone and gums that held the teeth in place need to heal. When they heal, they change shape. When your gums heal, the denture will most likely become loose and will require a reline and after a period of time, a new denture will be required.
Implant retained overdentures
An implant-retained overdenture is a full denture that is stabilised with two or more dental implants. Like a full denture, it is removable, however, instead of relying on suction to stay in place, it clips on and off abutments that connect to dental implants.
Implant-retained dentures offer improved comfort, stability and retention compared to full suction dentures that inevitably become loose over time. In fact, an implant-retained denture offers many benefits over full dentures and for existing denture wearers who have gone without teeth for some time
Denture repairs and emergency repairs
With fast turnaround time, we will save you the embarrassment of going without teeth any longer than required.
Dentures are not just repaired with glue as most people think. Before the repair begins your denture is thoroughly cleaned and soaked in appropriate cleaning agents. In some cases we will need to take an impression of the denture in your mouth to ensure an accurate repair can be made. After joining the broken pieces together, we pour a plaster model, prepare the broken surfaces, mix new acrylic and pour it into the join. Your denture then needs to spend time in a pressurised curing unit. Once cured, your denture is trimmed, polished, cleaned again thoroughly and ready for insertion.
Dentures usually break for a reason and we generally find most breakages are due to people keeping their old dentures well beyond their use by date. Dentures should be replaced every three to five years, sometimes sooner depending on wear.
Denture relines and soft liners
Your denture may need to be relined if it is causing discomfort, it has been at least two years since your last reline or your denture is loose.
A hard reline uses acrylic and is best for those who do not have sensitive or sore gums, while a soft liner is a layer of soft, pliable material fitted between the surface of your denture and oral tissues which absorbs the shock between the hard base of your denture and your gums. The main difference between a hard and soft reline is the material used.