Dentures – White Marsh, MD

Effects of Missing Teeth

Unfortunately, tooth loss can lead to several issues, including:

• A Restricted Diet – The reduced bite strength that comes with tooth loss often leaves patients with one choice: to eat the same soft, bland foods on repeat. Not only is this boring, but it also makes it difficult to get the essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that your body needs.
• Dental Drift – Dental drift is when the teeth surrounding the gap in your smile begin to move. Unfortunately, this can lead to several issues, including premature wear.
• Difficulty Enunciating Clearly – To form words, your tongue makes a series of distinct movements against the back of your teeth. So, you can see why it would be difficult to enunciate clearly if you have considerable gaps in your smile!
• Low Self-Esteem – Whether you are missing several teeth in a row or an entire arch, you know first-hand how difficult it can be to smile confidently.

What Qualifies You for Dentures?

If you are interested in finding out if you’re a good candidate for dentures, then we recommend scheduling a consultation with our team at Dental Designs of Maryland. During this visit, we will complete a comprehensive oral exam to make sure you’re free of any underlying issues, including gum disease. That way, there won’t be complications later on. If we determine that this tried-and-true tooth-replacement solution is ideal for you, then we will begin developing a treatment plan to help rebuild your smile while meeting your specific dental needs.

Alternative Tooth-Replacement Options

Of course, dentures aren’t the only way we can rebuild the strength of your bite and the appearance of your smile. At our White Marsh dental office, we also offer:

• Dental Bridges – This tooth-replacement solution is ideal for patients who are missing one tooth or up to four teeth in a row. If we decide together that this is the best option, then we will secure the prosthetic tooth or teeth in place with two dental crowns.
• Dental Implants – Largely considered the gold standard in tooth replacement, dental implants can replace any number of missing teeth. They are also self-supporting, help prevent bone loss, and can last for over 30 years with proper care.

If you are interested in exploring the smile-rebuilding solutions that we offer more in-depth, then get in touch with us! That way, we can learn more about your unique dental needs and goals before helping you decide the best way to proceed.

Step 1: Impressions

The first step in your denture journey is the impression process. Using comfortable, convenient digital impressions, your dentist will take images of your mouth that can be sent directly to the dental lab electronically. This means that the creation of your new smile can start much sooner.

Digital impressions have the added bonus of being much more comfortable to make than those old-fashioned putty models, and more accurate, too!

Step 2: Wax Mold Creation

Once the dental lab receives your digital impressions, they will be used to create a wax model of your mouth. The lab technician will set either acrylic or ceramic teeth into the model, carving around them to texturize the gums.

Next, the lab will send the model back to us, and you’ll return to our office to try them on. If you and your dentist approve, they’ll be sent back to the dental lab, where the technician will create use them to create a plaster mold. This melts the wax, allowing them to inject a separator into it to prevent the acrylic from sticking. Then the acrylic is then inserted to create the base that will rest atop your gumline.

Step 3: Fit Check

In this step, the lab will send the teeth back to us and you’ll return to our office to try them on. If approved, the dentures will be sent to the lab once again to continue the creation process. This visit is a great opportunity for you to be as discerning as possible and make any changes to the fit and appearance of your prosthetic before it advances to the next step.

Step 4: Back to the Lab for Refinements

Once approved, we’ll send the wax mold back to the dental lab so the technician can create a plaster mold of the mouth. They will remove any remaining traces of wax by boiling the mold, and indent holes in the acrylic so they can attach the teeth. The dentures will then be polished, cleaned up, and any plaster residue will be removed in an ultrasonic bath.

Step 5: Take Them Home!

Finally, your dentures will be sent back to us, and you’ll come in for one last visit to try them on. If you like how they look and feel, your dentist will provide you with instructions on how to put them on and take them out, clean them, and properly use them.

In most cases, it’ll take about 30 days to adjust to your new dentures. During that time, your facial muscles will strengthen to provide better support for the dentures, making it easier to speak and chew. You may experience some slippage at first, but this is completely normal and should improve with repeated use. If it doesn’t, please give your dentist a call.