When you wear dentures, getting dental implants may seem like overkill, especially if you are completely edentulous and must wear a full set. However, dental implants can be immensely beneficial to denture users as support devices. Here are two ways they can help.
Serve as Anchor Teeth
People only missing several teeth in a row or who still have a few healthy ones in their mouths are typically fitted with partial dentures. Removable ones are typically attached to a metal framework. However, permanent ones are affixed to neighboring teeth.
While this can secure the dentures in place, this setup often results in deterioration of natural teeth after a period of years. Additionally, this type of partial dentures typically needs to be bookend by natural teeth that serve as anchors, and this is not always possible depending on where the person is missing teeth.
Dental implants can solve these issues. They can be placed in areas where there are no natural teeth available, offering more flexibility with denture placement. More importantly, implants can take the place of natural teeth as anchor points, which will save your regular ones from long-term destruction. Since implants are made from strong materials, they can endure the stress dentures place on them much better, so you'll have them for a long time.
Secure Full Dentures in Place
One of the most frustrating things about having full rows of teeth replaced with dentures is the fact that they will often move around. Dentures are carefully fitted so they are secured in place by the jaw bone. Because of the lack of stimulation provided by natural teeth, however, the jaw bone starts to degrade as the body begins reclaiming the unused material. As the jaw bone gets smaller, the dentures get looser, resulting in constant irritating slippage.
Dentures should be refitted on a regular basis to help alleviate this issue, but not everyone can afford this option. An alternative, then, is to anchor the plates in place using implant posts. The anchoring can be permanent or the implant posts can be capped in a way that lets you remove the dentures when necessary. In either case, the implants can provide much-needed stability that prevents slippage, so you can use your false teeth more naturally.
Dental implants can be used with your existing dentures, so you shouldn't need to get all new ones, which will help keep the cost low. To learn more about dental implants and how they can help you, contact a cosmetic dentist.
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