Implant Supported Dentures
Rockford & Loves Park, IL
Implant Supported Dentures
Rockford & Loves Park, IL
An implant-supported denture is a type of overdenture that is attached to and supported by dental implants. A regular denture sits on your gums, held in place with an adhesive.
An implant-supported denture is a type of overdenture that is attached to and supported by dental implants. A regular denture sits on your gums, held in place with an adhesive. An implant-supported denture is used if you do not have any teeth in the jaw, yet you have enough jawbone to support the implants. An implant-supported denture has special attachments that snap onto the implants. You can receive an implant-supported denture in either the upper or lower jaw.
The team at Burch Dental has a simple goal. That is to ensure your trust through our commitment to quality treatment and your continued satisfaction. It is our daily agenda to maintain a caring environment that is respectful and comfortable for everyone. Our team members are united in our efforts to promote oral health by means of prevention, enhancement, wellness, and rejuvenation. Call or visit one of our convenient locations today to schedule your appointment for an evaluation to determine if you would benefit from implant supported dentures.
You should remove your implant-supported denture daily to clean the denture and gum area. Just as with traditional dentures, you should not sleep with the implant-supported dentures at night. You may prefer to have fixed (permanent) crown and bridgework in your mouth that cannot be removed. Burch Dental will consider your needs and preferences when suggesting fixed or removable options.
The Benefits of Implant Supported Dentures
Your implant-supported denture will be far more stable than a traditional denture. You will be able to eat the foods you could not eat before. You may not be able to chew hard or sticky foods because they might damage the denture. You will also find it easier to speak and you will not have to worry about the denture becoming loose or falling out of your mouth.
If you have an implant-supported denture in your upper jaw, it can be made to cover less of your palate, the roof of your mouth, than a regular denture. That is because the implants are holding it in place instead of the suction created between the full denture and your palate.
Two Types of Implant Supported Dentures
There are two types of implant-supported dentures: bar-retained and ball-retained. With both types, the denture will be made of an acrylic base that will look like your gums. Porcelain or acrylic teeth that look like natural teeth are attached to this base. Both types of dentures will need at least two implants for support.
- Bar-retained dentures — A thin metal bar that follows the curve of your arch is attached to two to five implants that have been placed in your jawbone. Clips or other types of attachments are fitted to the bar, the denture or both. The denture tray fits over the bar and is securely clipped into place by the attachments.
- Ball-retained dentures (stud-attachment dentures) — Each implant in the jawbone holds a metal attachment that matches another attachment on the denture. The attachments on the implants are usually ball-shaped, and they fit into sockets on the denture.
The Implant Supported Denture Procedure
The implants are placed in the jawbone in the front of your mouth because there is more jawbone density in the front of the jaw than in the back. Once you lose teeth, you begin to lose jawbone density in that area. The front part of the jaw does not have as many nerves that can interfere with the placement of implants.
The time frame to complete the implant depends on many factors. This includes the implant placement and the placement of the denture. It can be five months to a year for completion. Two surgeries usually are needed for the implants. The first places the implants in the jawbone under your gums. The second surgery exposes the tops of the implants for the attachments.
To being, during your initial dental exam, Burch Dental will review your medical and dental histories, take X-rays, and create impressions of your teeth and gums so that models can be made. We may order a computed tomography (CT) scan of your mouth. This will show us where your sinuses and nerves are. It allows our team to make sure they will not be affected by the implant placement. A CT scan may also be done to see how much bone is available and to identify the best locations for the implants. If you are not already wearing a complete denture, we will make you one. You will use this temporary denture until the implant-supported denture is placed. By making this temporary denture, we can determine the best position for the teeth in the final denture. The temporary denture also can be used as a backup if something happens to the final implant-supported denture.
Once the temporary denture is finished, we will use a copy of it as a guide to help place the implants in the proper positions. Holes will be drilled in the copy of the denture so that they can see where the implants should be placed.
Burch Dental will now wait three to six months before scheduling the second surgery. During this time, the jawbone and the titanium implants integrate or fuse together. This surgery is simpler than the first. A small incision is made in your gum to expose the tops of the implants. A healing cap is placed on the head of each implant after it is exposed. This guides the gum tissue to heal correctly.
About two weeks after the second surgery, the healing caps will be replaced with regular abutments. Your gums should now be healed enough for Burch Dental to make an impression of your gum tissue and abutments. The impression is used to make a working model of your abutments and jaw. This model is used to make the final denture framework and teeth.
The Final Dental Try-In and Insertion
At this point, the bar or ball attachments also will be secured. You will have the first try-in of your new denture framework to see if it fits properly.
Once the metal bar and the denture framework have been fitted together properly, the teeth are temporarily placed on the framework in wax. The whole denture is then tried in your mouth. If everything works well, the teeth are secured in the denture framework permanently.
You will have to return to Burch Dental for a final visit to have the completed denture inserted. When the denture is inserted, the denture is clipped onto the bar or snapped onto the ball attachments and the restoration is finished.