Alternative Dentures to Dental Implants

Which of the dental prostheses are best for the patient, depends on his or her state of health, the condition of the remaining teeth, and of course from the dental replacement costs. This site provides you with information about alternatives to dental implants.

Established Alternatives to Dental Implants

If your teeth are gone or in a state that wouldn’t allow for a proper functioning, dentists resort to dental implants to restore your chewing abilities. Through the employment of dental implants, much can be done to improve your pronunciation and satisfy your need for a healthy smile.

However, more and more patients have become increasingly prone to established ways of tooth-replacements and, forsaking dental implants. Here, artificial teeth made by a dental technician are fixed to the remaining teeth, so as to replace lost teeth. The remaining teeth are taken advantage of as they serve as the perfect bearing for a bridge. Another method would be to supply the patient with partial or full prostheses. In that case, dentists talk about removable dentures in principle, a combination of both removable and fixed dentures is applicable.

Bridges usually find their purpose in the closing of smaller tooth spaces. Larger tooth spaces or in cases where a whole row of teeth is missing, dentists usually recommend removable dental prostheses. No bridge will be applicable if the molars at one or two sides of the jaw are already gone.

Alternatives to Dental Implant: Bridges or Fixed Dental Prostheses

As a basic rule, dental prostheses in the form of bridges can only be used if a sufficient number of own teeth is still existent and if the remaining teeth stand in good proportions to missing teeth, that is, the more sane teeth, the better your changes of getting a bridge. To have the bridge well-fixed between your remaining teeth, the pillar teeth next to the tooth space, meant to carry the crowns needs some abrasive finishing. Once the crowns have been lifted onto the pillar teeth, the bridge is ready for being fixed at them. The fixing is usually done by adhesive bonding.

If no more than three teeth have been lost, the alternative of using bridges instead of dental implants can yield good or excellent results. It may come to no surprise that cases of periodontitis and loosely anchored teeth disallow for bridges. Dentists will not recommend the use of bridges in the event of tooth spaces larger than three teeth in a row as the pillar teeth would have to endure large loads.

Benefits in Using Bridges:

• Applying bridges is a save and gentle dental treatment.
• The patient will almost certainly be satisfied with the result in terms of function and esthetic.
• Bridges are usually partly covered by your health insurance company.

Disadvantages in Using Bridges:

• Healthy teeth need some abrasive finishing.
• An abrasion of your teeth would put them at risk of dying off.
• In case of frequent overloads of the pillar teeth, patients may suffer from loosing them as well.
• Caries may occur at the edges of crowns on top of the grinded teeth.
• The jaw bone may be retreating in the area around the bridge, as the strain and stress has gone.
• If you have lost more teeth, your dentist won’t be able to extent your bridge in order to cover the new tooth space.

The patient and the attending dentist should always get together to discuss further proceedings regarding dental implants if the pillar teeth have already been treated, crowns have been placed on top of them, or fillings have been applied to adjacent teeth.

Alternatives to Dental Implant: Removable Dental Prostheses

The many varieties of removable dentures have also their market share as alternatives to implants. There is a wide array of removable dental prostheses. A clasp-retained denture is widely seen as the simplest tooth-replacing prosthesis, followed by the acrylic resin denture. A more demanding prosthetic care, alternative to implants, is partial dentures. Partial dentures are produced by dental technicians in dental laboratories and are made of high-performance connecting elements. To adapt the denture to the existing teeth, the dentist makes use of telescopic crowns or attachments. These types of removable dental prostheses are therefore called telescopic denture.

In distinguishing between removable dentures, the dentist categorizes them as acrylic resin dentures or simple dental prostheses, on the one hand, and qualitatively more demanding prostheses, such as telescopic dentures, on the other.

The Array of Basic Prostheses

The acrylic resin denture is made of an acrylic substance, whose color is designed to resemble that of the patient. The artificial replacement teeth will be anchored deeply in the body of the acrylic resin denture. The acrylic body, which constitutes the actual framework of the acrylic resin denture, covers the jaw ridge and the entire palatine. The acrylic resin denture covers the mouth up to the frontal mucosal area close to the lips. The acrylic body, which is the base of the denture, exhibits small cleavages. They are designed in a way to enable the exchange of liquids between the palatine and the base of the prosthesis. At the same time, the flexible mucosal skin to which the denture is attached closes these cleavages, similar to a valve. This causes a vacuum. And along with saliva, the acrylic resin denture adheres to the palatine. It should be noted her, that the consistence of the patient’s saliva is of utmost importance for the forces applied to keep the denture in its position. For that reason, many suppliers of dental prostheses offer a vast array of denture adhesive creams and fixative liquids.

The method described referred to acrylic resin dentures fixed to the upper jaw; but the same workings apply to their fixation to the lower jaw. Except for the smaller area fit for the denture’s fixation, the prosthesis takes up most of the lower jaw ridge for reasons of adhesion. To prevent the fixation of the denture from causing pressure or wear points, the dentist has to be very careful in adjusting the denture according to the expansion of the mucosal skin of the buccal areas the tongue. The fixation of the acrylic resin denture at the lower jaw is by and large less effective and difficult to maintain. Moreover problems may arise as to the fixation of the prosthesis at the lower jaw, if it has already become subject to decay – be it because of age, dental negligence, or other carelessness.

The clasp-retained denture constitutes the simplest method of replacing teeth by utilizing remaining teeth. To connect the clasp-retained prosthesis with remaining teeth, the dentist uses either cast iron stainless steel, or titan. Provisional prostheses or interim dentures, also called brackets, make use of simple clasps made of wire. The reason why patients would still opt for this alternative is its unmatched cost-effectiveness. The clasp-retained denture negatively affects the look of your teeth and repercussions may occur due to too much pressure applied to the pillar teeth as chewing directs the forces to the denture at adverse angles. Clasp-retained prostheses are therefore manufactured only for cases where the implant has just been inserted and requires some time to heal.

Benefits of Basic Prostheses as Dentures:

• Relatively cost-effective if full or clasp-retained dentures are being used
• The manufacturing of clasp-retained or full prostheses can be done by almost every dental laboratory.
• Most dentists consider these dentures to be part of their daily routine.
• Clasp-retained and acrylic full dentures can be easily adapted to the conditions and positions of the remaining teeth and are not hard to be expanded.

Disadvantages arising from simple clasp-retained prostheses:

• Fundamental limitations as to their durability.
• Wearing these dentures may affect your high standard of quality of life. This is particularly true for the acts of speaking, laughing, eating, and while doing sports.
• The fixture of clasp-retained dentures is not satisfying particularly in the lower jaw.
• Visible parts (clasps) are worsening the esthetic impression.
• The abrasion of the pillar teeth through the clasps may lead to too much pressure there and eventually cause a loosening of the denture.
• Since most clasp-retained prostheses are not properly fixed at the palatine, the jaw bone deteriorates as a result of the lack of pressure onto the osseous tissue.

High-Quality Removable Dentures.

The telescopic prosthesis allows the dentist to fix this removable denture clasp-free and only by means of telescopic movements at existing teeth. A crown has to be put on top of the teeth chosen to provide support to the telescopic denture. To this purpose, a groove will be milled into the teeth’s sides, into which the mold can be positioned. A male mold, which is chiseled into the telescopic prosthesis, fits to the mold and the two can be firmly arrested and immobile anchored.

Benefits of Using Telescopic Dentures:

• Dentures are firmly tied to the remaining teeth.
• Patients will be more satisfied with the results of the dental treatment, providing both dentists and dental technicians a reason to smile.

Disadvantages of Using Telescopic Dentures:

• Abrasion of healthy teeth.
• An abrasion of your teeth would put them at risk of dying off.
• The excess pressure put on the pillar teeth may lead to the loss of these teeth.
• The susceptibility for caries is increasing as the cleaning and dental care of these dentures require considerable effort.
• The jaw bone looses much of its osseous substance in the areas adjacent to the denture.
• Further loss of teeth may not allow for compensation as he telescopic denture has its limits regarding an extension.
• The manufacturing requires special skills and great care.

A splinted crowns denture, or double crown-retained removable partial denture, is a clasp-free retained prosthesis. It gains its adhesion through friction. This is rendered possible through the exact pressing together of the inner and outer crowns. Telescopic inner crowns are usually made of gold. The dental technician is required to apply the greatest care and to make sure that the crowns run in an exact, parallel distance to each other. If the proper position for inserting the crown has been achieved, the dentist will be pushing the outer telescopic crowns over the inner telescopes. The inner telescopes will be completely covered and the denture can be expected to endure quite a long time. Another option would be to fix double crowns at existing implants or to use them as a combination of both, as hybrid prosthesis, anchoring them between own teeth and implants.

Benefits of Double Crown-Retained Removable Partial Denture:

• The hold of double crowns is excellent.
• He pressure applied to the pillar teeth is gentle to the jaw bone.
• There is no limit to oral hygiene.
• Telescopic dentures can be extended.

Disadvantages of Double Crown Dentures:

• Costs for manufacturing are generally high.
• An abrasion of your teeth would put them at risk of dying off.
• The excess pressure put on the pillar teeth may lead to the loss of these teeth.
• Caries may occur at the edges of crowns on top of the grinded teeth.
• The manufacturing requires special skills and great care on the parts of the dentist or the dental technician.