We often get patients that come in to the practice asking about “permanent teeth” and they are surprised that there is so many options out there.
There is a big difference between a permanent dental implant bridge and an overdenture.
An overdenture is a removable denture that snaps on to a number of dental implants, it is made of acrylic.
An over denture is a denture that needs to be removed at nightime and cleaned underneath it and works well in a number of situations especially if cost is an issue. Often the patient coming in for this treatment has had a history of denture use or wear and wants extra retention to keep the denture from moving without having to rely on denture adhesives/glue.
The lower jaw is most often the problematic area as suction tends to be poor or non existent and the tongue and muscles of lower jaw always want to kick the denture out of the mouth or dislodge it.
The difference between an overdenture and fixed “permanent” dental implant bridges which are typically not removed by patients. The difference between dentures that have pink acrylic for the gums and white acrylic for the teeth, fixed/permanent bridges are typically made of porcleain with a metal base or more commonly now as illustrated full zirconia which is the strongest material on the market.
The advantage of a fixed permanent bridge is that nothing will be touching the roof of your mouth. The teeth will emerge from the gum line and no plastic is involved like in the dentures.
The cost of dental implants and a fixed bridge is more than a typical overdenture. The number of appointments and lab costs to restore a patient with permanent teeth is complex and a great amount of detail goes into the process to ensure a successful fit with high aesthetics. This is one of the more complex procedures we perform at our Bowmanville dental office.
Over dentures are a great option especially for the lower jaw. Often patients can have a combination of fixed permanent teeth on the upper jaw and a snap in over denture in the lower jaw.
What is the right choice? Well it depends on many factors such what you want to invest, your budget and existing bone.
If you are missing all of your teeth for a number of years ,often we will recommend getting a CT scan of your jaw to determine the anatomy and jawbone shape prior to surgery to ensure a safe and predictable surgery.
Long term, the permanent dental implant bridge tends to have less maintenance. We often place a number of extra dental implants in the case of the patient wishing in the future to convert the over denture to a fixed dental implant bridge.
For your free dental implant consultation, contact our dental office in Bowmanville today.
Dr. Mark Bishara DDS
