Disadvantages of Dentures

Hi, this is Dr. Sasan Khodabakhsh with Summit Point Dental Implant Center. In this video, I'm going to speak to you about why dentures are just a temporary solution. Stay tuned. I'll be right back. All right, so we're going to go down the list from the immediate drawbacks all the way down to the more long-term drawbacks of having dentures. Reason number one is a common complaint among denture wearers is that it's uncomfortable to have one in. The reason for this is that dentures, just by their nature, is very bulky. Here's an example of what a denture looks like. Imagine having something like this in your mouth to replace what you used to have as far as teeth goes. The size of it is bulky and it's fitted. We take impressions and it's fitted to your mouth. The retention is not adequate in most cases. Patients who wear dentures always, or in most cases, have to wear what's called an adhesive, which is like a glue that they have to wear and they stick it to their palate or to their bottom denture to hold it in place. So imagine trying to eat with something like that device in your mouth. Reason number two is a lack of functionality. This relates back to what I just mentioned about dentures not fitting in your mouth just by itself. For a lot of people, the only thing that's holding their dentures in is the adhesive that they use to hold it in. This type of retention that you get by using that adhesive could be adequate if you're just sitting behind a computer, but if you're wanting to eat steak, chicken, be out with friends, enjoying good quality of life, it's not going to be enough. Regular dentures don't have roots like natural teeth. So it makes it difficult when you try to go to your favorite restaurant to eat that steak or that chicken and it just becomes uncomfortable to eat food. So that's why most people who have dentures have to eat softer foods, more like soup, things like that. Imagine having to deal with these issues for years on end. And this takes us to the last reason, and this is by far the biggest drawback of having regular dentures. Reason number three, bone recession. Most people don't realize this, but teeth like to have opposing force put up upon them to keep the bone structure remaining around the roots. When patients have to have their teeth extracted, for instance, they're getting dentures, that bone starts to resorb and go away. When you're missing one or more teeth, your jawbone starts to recede. Let me show you an example. In this model, shows what would be a patient who has teeth and someone who's had teeth missing for years on end. As you can see, the progression is that this person, for their lower jaw, has lost a lot of bone, and it makes it more difficult to keep a denture in place. So that's why people who have dentures, after one or two years, have to go back to their dentist to get either what's called the 'reline' to get it to fit better or to have to use even more adhesive to keep the denture in place. If you're thinking about getting regular dentures, please take all these factors into account. I hope this video has helped you. If you like this video, please like and share it with your friends. My name is Dr. Sasan Khodabakhsh with Summit Point Dental Implant Center.