Dentures and partial dentures allow a dentist to replace many missing teeth in an upper and lower arch. Dentures and partials are made to be taken in and out of your mouth in order to clean them. They can be a cost-effective way to bring back function and esthetics to a patient with many missing teeth.

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What Are the Different Types of Dentures?

Dentures can be customized in various ways, as discussed below:

Complete Dentures 

Complete dentures or full dentures replace all of the teeth in the upper or lower arch. The teeth are made of durable and esthetic resin and are set in an acrylic base which appears gum colored. Some dentures can be made to snap into implants, allowing the denture to be more stable as the patient eats and speaks. This eliminates the need for denture adhesives which needs to be cleaned off the denture every night. As a patient ages, the bone support for dentures changes, and dentures may need to be replaced or relined to retain their fit.

Partial Dentures 

Partial dentures replace missing teeth in an upper or lower arch but use a patient’s retained teeth as anchors to keep the partial in place. Clasps are designed to keep the partial from moving. Some partials can be designed to snap into place without the clasps. Esthetically, this looks more natural when a patient smiles as there is no metal clasp showing.

What Are the Benefits of Using Dentures?

The benefits of Complete Dentures are obvious. They allow an esthetic solution for patients to have the confidence to smile and a functional solution to allow patients to eat and speak correctly. The benefits of Partial Dentures is to functionally allow a patient to eat and speak and keep retained teeth from shifting and leaning. Partials should only be used when fixed bridgework and /or implants can’t be an option due to financial concerns, inadequate bone to support implants or medical issues.

Please reach out to our dental practice at 70 Pennington Dr, Ste 7, Bluffton, SC 29910, to have a consultation with our Dentist in Bluffton, SC. Call us or schedule an online consultation, and we’ll guide you further.