Dentures are tooth replacement solutions that enhance tooth functionality and the appearance of your smile after tooth loss. The teeth replacements are primarily associated with senior citizens, but they are not the only candidates, as these artificial teeth are also widespread among middle-aged persons. While your prosthodontist or dental provider can recommend dentures, having all the procedure details is critical. Here are some of the signs that you need dentures.
You Are Embarrassed or Unhappy About Your Smile
An improved, flawless smile is one of the reasons people of all ages opt for dentures. If you are not confident about your smile, smiling in public will be a huge struggle. Less appealing teeth can lead to a complete loss of confidence and personality. Sometimes, being unhappy with your smile due to broken or missing teeth can destroy your mental peace, personality, and happiness. Thankfully, you can turn to dentures to improve the appearance of your teeth and restore your confidence.
If your goal is to enhance the appearance of your teeth, your dentist will help you select a denture type that enables you to achieve this objective. The artificial teeth will be customized to meet your oral needs and mimic the remaining natural teeth for a balanced smile. If you replace an entire arch, complete dentures can restore your smile. The duration of achieving a beautiful smile depends on the required complementary procedures. If you need a tooth extraction to remove damaged teeth, the dentist will allow you time to recover before fitting the dentures.
Once the dentures are in place, you will have an improved natural smile because these artificial teeth look and function like natural teeth. You will regain your confidence and not be embarrassed whenever you speak or smile.
However, just because you can replace missing teeth with dentures at an affordable price does not mean you should wait until you lose teeth to undergo the procedure. You can avoid the procedure by observing the appropriate dental routine and visiting the dentist regularly for examination and dental cleaning. Brushing teeth twice daily and flossing at least once prevents plaque and calculus buildup, which increases the risk of periodontal disease and, in severe cases, tooth loss. Biannual visits to the dentist ensure that your teeth and gums are thoroughly examined for any signs of dental concerns. If any conditions are identified, they are addressed early before leading to severe tooth damage or loss.
You Have Gaps or Spaces in the Mouth
If you have lost a few teeth in the mouth, especially on the front, your smile will be significantly flawed because of the spaces or gaps left by the lost teeth. The gaps also cause functional issues as more pressure is exerted on the remaining healthy teeth. Again, the natural teeth could shift towards the open sockets, causing teeth movement and malocclusion. So, when you notice spaces in the mouth caused by missing teeth, it is time to obtain partial dentures.
You Frequently Suffer From Indigestion
Regular indigestion could be an indication that you need dentures. Chewing is the first phase of digestion. So, when you do not chew your food sufficiently, you swallow big pieces that are hard to digest, causing digestion problems. Indigestion has many causes, but the best way to determine the cause of the problem is to consult a dental provider or doctor. If your doctor confirms that you do not have a health issue that could be causing the indigestion, it could mean that the primary cause of the problem is poor chewing and grinding before swallowing.
Your dentist will examine you, and if you have several missing teeth, poor chewing could be the source of your digestive issues. You will have difficulties breaking off food bites when the front teeth are missing. If you are missing the anterior teeth, particularly the molars, whose role is to chew and grind food primarily, you will have problems chewing, which could affect your digestion. An affordable and practical way to fix the indigestion is to wear dentures. The artificial teeth fill the spaces and create more room for chewing or grinding, ensuring you swallow small food particles that are easy to digest in the stomach.
You Have Problems Eating Some Foods
Another sign that you need dentures is struggling to eat foods that require more chewing. Eating difficulties can limit your diet choices and restrict you to specific food types, which could affect your nutrition. If you struggle to chew some foods, it could be a sign that you have dental issues like caries, periodontal disease, or chipped teeth. When you suffer from these oral concerns, you might experience pain or sensitivity when chewing complex substances. Although these problems can be addressed when identified early, if you allow them to progress, they could cause severe damage to the teeth, forcing you to wear dentures to restore tooth functionality.
The artificial teeth will correct the malocclusion and chewing issues, allowing you to enjoy all food types without fear of discomfort or further tooth damage. If missing teeth cause chewing problems, artificial teeth provide additional teeth to improve chewing. Also, they increase the chewing surface of cracked or damaged teeth, promoting proper chewing.
You have one or Multiple Missing Teeth
The most common reason why people need dentures is to replace missing teeth. Tooth loss significantly hinders your smile, life quality, and oral health. The tooth loss can be due to many factors, including
- Age
- Trauma or injury
- Gum disease,
- Dental cavities
One or several missing teeth on the visible sections of your mouth can make you self-conscious of your smile. Your confidence will also be significantly impacted when you cannot pronounce certain words correctly because of the spaces in the mouth. If you fail to replace the teeth for a long time, you experience jawbone loss or resorption. Teeth are crucial in jawbone support and stimulation. It is the same way you exercise to build and stimulate muscle strength and health. When you lose teeth, the jawbone lacks the support and stimulation it was receiving and starts to lose its mass, the same way the muscle shrinks when it is no longer in use.
The teeth adjacent to the missing teeth, even though deeply anchored in the jawbone, also shift towards the open space, creating more space for the other teeth to shift, increasing the risk of bite problems. Occlusion or bite is the meeting or contact between the tooth surfaces. When teeth shift drastically, they impact the contact between teeth, leading to malocclusion. Malocclusion causes further tooth loss, headaches, muscle pain, and eventually TMJD, which is expensive to treat.
Again, teeth support your facial structure. If you stay without replacing missing teeth for long, the bone shrinks, and the face becomes sunken as it resorbs.
Wearing dentures restores the beauty of your smile, prevents teeth from shifting, and helps you retain your facial structure.
You Are Experiencing a Throbbing Toothache
In advanced stages, tooth decay or caries is associated with severe pain. The decay stems from tartar and plaque accumulation, which produces acidic bacteria that eat away at the enamel, forming cavities. When not treated early, the cavities attack the tooth roots and nerves, causing severe pain. If your tooth is experiencing a throbbing pain, it is a sign that you could have advanced cavities. The treatment for the condition at this progressive stage is tooth extraction followed by a replacement using dentures.
Before the tooth removal, your prosthodontist will discuss the options after the extraction, depending on your dental needs and preferences. Usually, they recommend acrylic partial dentures, as you can wear them temporarily before a dental implant or permanent denture. After the denture procedure, maintain regular visits to your dentist to ensure the artificial teeth fit properly and to prevent further dental concerns.
Your Gum or Gingival Tissue is Tender, Red, Bleeding, or Swollen
When you suffer from gum disease or infections, the gum tissue turns red, inflamed, tender, and sore. Brushing or eating can cause bleeding, depending on the severity of the illness. Mild gum disease is called gingivitis and can be reversed with dental cleaning, proper oral health, and regular dental treatments.
However, when the infection becomes severe, it spreads and damages the gum fibers and bone tissue, leaving you with loose teeth that could fall off at any time. If your gum disease has damaged the tooth and jawbone, you will require an extraction to allow the gums to heal. Once healed, the dentist can replace the extracted or lost teeth with dentures.
You Suffer From Loose Teeth
Advanced disease causes deep teeth pockets and damage to the gums, exposing tooth roots and leaving the teeth loose. With loose teeth, you experience pain whenever you chew, and the teeth could fall out at any time. Under these circumstances, the loose teeth will be extracted and will be replaced with dentures, which are more stable and retained.
Loose teeth cause several problems, like pain when chewing and speech problems. However, when you replace them with dentures, you can eat and speak more comfortably.
Your Age or Genetics
Genetics and age also dictate whether you will require dentures. Some people have a genetic predisposition to tooth loss. Therefore, if the people in your family have been losing teeth due to their genetics, it is likely to happen to you so you might need dentures.
Besides, as you age, the gingival tissue and teeth weaken and are more susceptible to oral problems and damage. Therefore, if you are a senior citizen, you already have missing teeth or will experience them in the future. When this happens, you will need dentures to replace the lost teeth. Tooth loss is common in senior citizens, which explains the prevalence of dentures among the elderly.
Your risk of losing teeth increases as you age if you smoke or have poor oral hygiene practices. Luckily, dentures are available to restore your youthful smile.
You Have Suffered an Injury or Trauma
Severe trauma in the mouth during an accident, contact sport, or fight can lead to tooth loss, jawbone injury, or severe tooth damage that requires an extraction. With few or all missing teeth, you lack teeth functionality and aesthetics, and you may need dentures to restore the functions and appearance.
Reasons You May Not Need Dentures
Not everyone is a candidate for dentures. There are several reasons you could be unsuitable to wear dentures. These artificial teeth require support from the underlying jawbone. Therefore, the dentures will not fit properly if you have a severely shrunken jawbone. A loose denture can cause irritation and sores, increasing the risk of other oral diseases, like gum infection.
Similarly, dentures require good oral hygiene to maintain. So, if you have poor dental hygiene practices, you will be at risk of fungal infection and bacterial infection because of plaque buildup on the dentures and remaining natural teeth. Therefore, if you cannot observe proper dental hygiene, your dentist will discourage you from receiving dentures.
Again, individuals allergic to materials used in dentures, like acrylic or metals, are unsuitable for dentures, as wearing them irritates the gingival tissue and teeth. Discuss the alternatives with your dentist if you are allergic to dentures.
Additionally, when you cannot remove and clean your dentures at night, the dental provider will not recommend them because of the elevated risk of fungal or bacterial infection due to poor oral hygiene. Dentures require cleaning at least once a day. You should consider other options if you cannot do the cleaning or will likely break them when cleaning.
Dentures take time to adapt to the mouth. Initially, you might experience irritation, problems pronouncing some words, and trouble chewing. You must train yourself to pronounce the words or chew with the artificial teeth, which can take a few days or weeks. If you are not willing to commit this time to adapt to these restorations, they are unsuitable for you.
Find a Competent Prosthodontist Near Me
If you are missing some or all of your teeth, you need dentures for many reasons. These artificial teeth will help you restore a beautiful and functional smile, prevent halitosis, prevent teeth from shifting, improve chewing and digestion, and help you retain your facial structure. If you need dentures, consult a prosthodontist or general dentist to understand your options. At The Lakewood Dentist, we will examine you to determine your candidacy. Our dental experts will explain the available denture types, their pros and cons, and alternatives like bridges and implants for an informed decision. Call us at 562-423-1441 for more details on the treatment.