I have a problem with my teeth, especially my upper teeth. I’ve been losing enamel and most of the teeth have cavities. Many of them need crowns and a few need to be extracted. It may be easier to extract them. Every one is telling me to get dental implants, but I don’t have a lot of money. What if dentures are all I can afford?
Celeste
Dear Celeste,
Everyone is in different circumstances. My first piece of advice to you would be to focus on saving the teeth you can. Natural teeth are far more useful to you than any tooth replacement. If you were losing all of your teeth and they couldn’t be saved I would say that it would be fine to place dentures on the upper teeth. These are held in by suction.
If you were dealing with lower teeth, while you might have to start with dentures, I would strongly suggest that you save up for dental implants. It is much more important on the lower arch. This is because the dentures on a lower arch rest on the ridge of your jawbone. Unfortunately, once your teeth are removed, your body will begin to resorb the minerals in your jawbone to use elsewhere in your body.
While it does this to be efficient with your body’s resources, it has the side effect of slowly shrinking your jawbone. Eventually, there won’t be enough of the ridge there for your dentures to stay in place. In dental circles this is known as facial collapse.
Getting dental implants prevents that. The implants signal to your body that you still have teeth. Because of that, it leaves your jawbone alone. This means that you will no longer have to worry about facial collapse.
This blog is brought to you by Kalamazoo Dentist Dr. Susan Dennis.