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When to Choose Dentures Over Dental Implant

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Almost 70% of adults between the ages of 35 and 44 are missing at least one tooth due to trauma, decay, or gum disease. And these numbers tend to grow with age. When it comes time to consider your options for replacing that tooth (teeth?), there are some compelling reasons for choosing dentures over dental implants.

At Volterra Dental, our goal is to provide all of the dental services you need to help you chew, smile, and speak with ease. While your teeth are meant to last a lifetime, life happens, sometimes leaving you to, quite literally, fill in the gap. While dental implants are fast gaining in popularity, tried-and-tested dentures still play a very valuable role in replacing missing teeth.

Here’s a look at several reasons why dentures may be a better solution for you than dental implants.

Bone deep

The reason dental implants are so popular is that they offer superior stability. By using a titanium post, we create a new “root” for your replacement tooth, which your body fuses into your jawbone.

The problem is that dental implants need a fair amount of bone below to hold the new tooth. If decay or periodontal disease has caused bone loss, there may not be enough to sustain an implant.

In these cases, dentures, which attach to surrounding teeth rather than going bone-deep, provide a great alternative.

A numbers game

If you’ve lost several teeth due to an accident, decay, or gum disease, dentures are often the better option as they can support many replacement teeth in one oral device. The procedure to get even one dental implant requires substantial bone (as described above), as well as time and patience. It takes several months for each post to fuse properly into your bone, and if you multiply this out, dentures may become the preferred path of least resistance.

Dentures are a great solution for replacing several teeth in a row, or even an entire line of upper or lower teeth.

Keeping within a budget

Because of the complex procedure to place an implant, their costs are considerably higher than dentures. If your budget is tight, dentures provide a perfectly great solution that will enable you to eat and speak normally, without taking a financial hit in the process.

In many cases, too, insurance companies routinely cover dentures, while dental implants fall outside their plans.

Ease of use

Dentures have come a long way since their wooden and bone ancestors, and they’re very easy to clean and maintain. Because your dentures are removable, you can ensure that they’re cleaned properly, keeping your smile white and bright.

A perfect fit

If you opt for dentures, we take impressions of your mouth so that your dentures can be custom manufactured to fit securely and snugly. The material that covers your gums is very comfortable, and we can make the prosthetic teeth whiter than your original teeth, giving you something to really smile about.

A personal choice

The bottom line is that finding the right replacements for your missing teeth is mostly a personal choice. If we find that your jawbone can’t support a dental implant, then we will recommend dentures. But any other considerations are yours alone, and it’s important that you find a solution that you’re comfortable with.

To help, we will sit down with you to review your options and the pros and cons of each, so that you can make an informed decision.

If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of dentures, please contact our Los Alamitos, California, to book your consultation.