Lost and knocked-out teeth diminish your appearance while also impacting your abilities to chew, bite, and speak. It can also affect your confidence level and keep you from smiling openly. However, your dentist can offer you several prosthetic solutions and allow you to regain the functionality and appearance of lost teeth.

Among all the prosthetic dental solutions, dentures are the most common and are easily available. You can go to the nearest dentist in San Jacinto, CA, and seek prosthetic solutions for replacing a missing tooth.

Who needs dentures

Dentures are prosthetic appliances that are custom-built to replace missing teeth in one or both jaws. People missing all of the teeth in one or both jaws need full dentures, whereas people missing partial teeth can benefit from partial dentures. 

Dentures can last up to 10 years with proper care and good oral hygiene. As dentures are required to replace missing teeth, one must look for the following signs to understand if they need dental extraction.

• Experiencing frequent toothaches can indicate a decay that has reached the pulp inside the tooth, making tooth extraction necessary.
• Not going for routine dental checkups can exaggerate small issues, and small dental problems can become so severe that tooth extraction becomes the only solution.
• If you don’t go for professional dental cleaning every six months despite having plaque or other problems, then your tooth may decay severely and may need to be removed.
• Your teeth may need to be removed if you have a pre-existing dental problem that you haven’t addressed for a very long time.
• If you have periodontal disease causing severe pain and swelling in your gums and teeth, it may be an indication that the infection has damaged your tooth and roots, making dental extraction essential to get rid of the infection.

Denture treatment procedure

Denture treatment procedures can be lengthy and may require three to five appointments before you finally get your dentures. Usually, the procedure involves the following steps.

• Dental extraction: The first step in getting dentures is removing the damaged or decayed teeth for replacing them with dentures. The procedure may take several minutes and your dentist may use local anesthesia along with sedatives. The dentist may remove the whole tooth at once, but in case the tooth has degenerated below the gum line the dentist will have to remove it in pieces.
• Immediate dentures: After removing the teeth, the dentist will give you medications to manage the pain and promote healing. Meanwhile, they’ll provide you with temporary dentures to use to protect sockets and prevent jaw atrophy while you recover from the extraction.
• Taking impressions: Once your gums are healed, which may take several weeks, the dentist will call you to take the impression of the jaws. The impressions are sent to labs for the preparation of a stone or wax model of your mouth, which is used to customize your dentures.
• Colour selection: After taking the impressions, the dentist will call you to colour matching the artificial teeth to your natural teeth in case of partial dentures. You may need dental cleaning before this procedure so that the shade may be matched accurately.
• Placing dentures: Once your customized dentures are prepared, the dentist will call you for final fitment and make necessary adjustments so that the dentures fit perfectly. 

How to take care of dentures

Dentures can last as long as 10 years, provided that you take good care of them. Here’s how you can do it.

• Brush your dentures regularly using a soft bristle toothbrush.
• Remove your dentures before going to bed.
• Avoid putting your dentures in hot water, as it can damage the shape.
• Don’t use toothpaste with bleach in it, as it can weaken the artificial teeth and change their colour.
• Go for dental checkups as recommended by your dentist.

Final takeaway

Dentures can significantly enhance the appearance and functionality of your teeth and reduce the risk of further oral issues. Moreover, dentures are highly affordable, customizable, and easy to clean, making them the most popular choice for people with missing teeth.