What About False Teeth?

In my office, I regularly field questions about “false teeth” and what to expect with them. Of course most people are referring to complete dentures and partial dentures when asking about “false teeth.”

A complete denture is an appliance that replaces either all your upper teeth or all your lower teeth. A partial denture is, as the name implies, replaces a few of the upper or lower teeth, and uses your remaining teeth to “anchor” the denture securely.

For all my denture patients, I always use the analogy of a dance partner when explaining what to expect from their denture. Your natural teeth can be thought of as a dance partner you have grown up with and practiced together with your whole life. You and your teeth move in rhythm when chewing without thought and rarely out of step with each other.

A new partial denture is like a new dance partner that has had some formal training and can usually follow your chewing rhythm with little or no growing pains because it uses your remaining teeth as a guide. A new complete denture is like a complete novice dance partner. For some it takes little time to get use to it and for others it can be a struggle for the rest of their lives.

For these reasons, if at all possible, I always attempt to design a partial denture rather than a complete denture.

For all denture patients I always recommend soft foods like pasta, eggs, and mashed potatoes for at least the first week. As is the case for most things in life, moving to more solid foods is a question of tolerance by each patient. Your gums will need to get used to rubbing against the hard material dentures are made of when chewing. Usually within 2-3 weeks most patients are well on their way to a regular diet. Of course with complete dentures every patient needs to “learn” a new way to chew harder foods like steaks and veggies, but necessity always breeds success in this regard.

Of course with modern dental advancements, there are treatment options available to patients today that can eliminate the need for dentures. The most talked about of course is the dental implant, and we will be discussing that in the future.

For any more questions about false teeth, please visit us at www.thesugarlanddentist.com. Please feel free to us the Live Chat function or give us a call at 281-240-5559.