Partial Dentures Could Transform Your Smile

kansas city partial dentures

If you have several gaps in your smile, a bridge may not be enough to provide a complete smile. However, what if you don’t have enough missing teeth to receive a full denture? In these situations, you may benefit from a partial denture. In today’s blog, your Kansas City, MO, dentist talks about how we improve oral health and beauty with a partial.

The Impact Of Major Tooth Loss

When you have lost many of your natural teeth, with gaps spread out across your smile, this could lead to serious trouble for your oral health and quality of life. You could have trouble eating your favorite foods, limiting your nutritional intake. Speaking could become difficult too, which leads to problems with your social life. Misalignment could develop due to the gaps, which allows teeth to drift from position. The alignment issues also increase the risk of tooth decay and gum disease. Missing teeth could also strain your jaw joints and bite balance, causing painful complications like TMJ disorder and bruxism (chronic teeth grinding).

Creating a Custom Dental Prosthetic

For cases too severe for a bridge, but not serious enough to warrant extraction for a full denture, you may need a partial. We begin by taking detailed impressions and images of your smile with digital scanning technology. We use these images to create a 3D model, planning your prosthetic to ensure a comfortable fit and a lifelike appearance. The denture itself will have lifelike ceramic teeth set in an acrylic base, which mimics the appearance of gum tissues. There will be metal clasps that attach to natural teeth and secures the prosthetic, while remaining completely invisible when in place.

Maintaining Your New Denture

Daily care is needed to ensure your new prosthetic lasts, and to protect your smile from further tooth loss. You will need to remove it for cleaning and soaking, and the prosthetic itself will last about 5 to 10 years before a replacement is necessary. Routine actions like brushing and flossing, and visits for checkups and cleanings, can help prevent worsening gum disease or other issues that lead to tooth loss or a compromised prosthetics. If you have any questions about how we address tooth loss, or if you have missing teeth and would like to talk about a possible solution for your smile, then give us a call.

Do You Have Questions About Tooth Replacements?

We want to help you enjoy a complete smile again, even if you have lost enough teeth to require a full denture. Learn more about the process of restoring function, health, and beauty to your smile by scheduling an appointment by calling Plaza Family Dentistry in Kansas City, MO, at (816) 531-8000.