Our Yuba City dentists may offer you two different kinds of dentures after your teeth are extracted. If your teeth have been missing for some time, however, you may be able to move directly to the standard denture, for reasons that are explained later. This is because the difference between immediate or conventional dentures involves the healing period after tooth loss. After decayed teeth are extracted, the gums require time to heal. Over four to eight weeks, the gums shrink and fill the holes left behind. This process changes the structure of the gums and the jaw.
If You Choose Standard Dentures
With standard dentures, you are not given false teeth immediately. Instead, your gums are allowed to heal first. Then, measurements determine the structure of your new dentures. While this does mean going without teeth for a time, when standard dentures are placed they typically require only minor future adjustments, if any. You also spend less time in the dental clinic.
If You Choose Immediate Dentures
During the healing period, you may wear immediate dentures. Immediate dentures – as their name suggests – are made before the extraction of your teeth and are available immediately afterward. Because they’re based on the anticipated shape of the mouth, they may not be a perfect fit. Then, as the gums naturally shrink, immediate dentures must be customized to fit the new structure of your mouth. One disadvantage to immediate dentures is that they involve more cost and trips in the office of Yuba City Dentistry Group.
Dental Implant Dentures
Since implants must set in the jawbone before they can hold significant weight (and the jaw itself may need a bone graft to support that weight), with implant dentures the therapy is quite similar to that for standard false teeth. Installation of your new implant denture must await a secure foundation. That necessitates a fully healed jaw. So while patience is necessary for a time, the end results of using dental implants to attach your dentures typically bring the greatest satisfaction out of any denture type used in by our Yuba City dental patients.