Patients who have lost all their dental units are frightened by the idea of wearing total dentures for several reasons. Losing all their teeth is a difficult psychological moment for the patient.
Most often, they only realize that they have not taken care of their teeth when it is too late.
Causes
There are many reasons why teeth become destroyed and lost:
Extensive carious lesions – poor hygiene coupled with the consumption of sweets and acidic drinks favor the destruction of enamel and dentin. Untreated cavities sometimes progress asymptomatically until the tooth becomes root debris and can no longer be retained in the arches.
Periodontal disease – teeth are protected by bone and gum. Through the deposition of tartar and bacterial plaque, the gum becomes inflamed and its place is occupied by adherent deposits.
This leads to resorption of the alveolar bone and, by extension, the underlying gingiva towards the root tip. With this the bone also resorbed.
This is when periodontal disease sets in, responsible for uncovering dental crowns and exposing more and more of the tooth.
If the disease is not stopped from progressing, it can lead to increased mobility and tooth loss.
Severe trauma to the facial mass may result in tooth loss, but often only certain areas of the oral cavity are affected.
If all the teeth on the arch are missing, the reasons why patients do not like the idea of total dentures are as follows:
Psychological impact
The idea of having no teeth in the mouth and having to wear a denture that has to be removed every evening can be difficult for patients to bear.
Risk of loosening – no matter how well designed, total dentures, especially mandibular dentures, are at risk of loosening. The prosthetic field to which these mobile works are attached can be poorly expressed in the mandible and the prosthesis can also be tilted by tongue movements.
The maxilla, on the other hand, has a favorable prosthetic field and the total prosthesis creates a good suction due to the existence of a film of saliva between the work and the hard palate (roof of the mouth).
Adhesive pastes to improve the contact between the denture and the alveolar ridges are helpful in terms of stability and fixation, but the risk of loosening is not completely eliminated.
Implants have many advantages over full dentures. As there is only one relative advantage, we will first present the disadvantages of implants.
The only disadvantage would be the costs involved. However, this is mitigated by the quality and durability of the work.
Naturally, for an edentulous patient (who has lost all his teeth), the ideal is to provide a support that is as solid as possible and can withstand the masticatory forces.
The type, number and size of implants are chosen according to the particularities of each individual case (bone supply, type of occlusion).
After the dental implants are inserted, the healing and Osseo acceptance phase begins.
In the first stage, the implants will be inserted and then, after about 6 months, they will be uncovered and the superstructure, i.e. the portion visible in the oral cavity, will be taken for the impression. The patient will thus regain self-confidence and the functionality of the masticatory and phonatory apparatus and will no longer worry about the stability of the prosthetic work.
