Will Dental Implants Stop My Denture From Moving?
“Will dental implants stop my denture from moving?” This is a question new patients ask me on a weekly basis. And the easy and short answer that I’m always delighted to give them is “Yes!”.
My Memories of Dentures
My first memories of seeing dentures were at my grandparents.
I remember how my papa took great pleasure in popping his dentures out of his mouth and showing us them. We used to be so intrigued!
My gran, on the other hand, was more subtle about the whole thing and we never saw her without her teeth. I noticed as time went on how she started to struggle with her dentures – they became worn, discoloured and uncomfortable and the bottom one in particular moved around a lot when she tried to eat.
Dental Implants: A New Treatment For Moving Dentures
At that time, dental implants were still a relatively new treatment with the expensive price tag that goes with new-fangled technologies. As a freshly qualified dental student, I was still working out which end of the drill to hold, so unfortunately I wasn’t best placed to be able to help her.
Dental Implants Become Increasingly More Common
When I took over Coatbridge Family Dental Care 12 years ago, dental implants were becoming more widespread, but most treatments were still being carried out in dental hospitals or in specialist clinics. Over the following few years I watched with interest as implants became more commonplace in general dental practice and more affordable for everyone.
Introducing Implants to Coatbridge
Since 2014, I’ve been providing implant care for our patients from Coatbridge, Airdrie and other parts of Lanarkshire and Glasgow and in 2019 (after 2 years of seriously hard work), I was awarded the Diploma in Implant Dentistry from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, England. My grandparents would be so proud.
Over the last few years I’ve had many patients come to me who are in a similar situation as my gran was – they had all their teeth taken out some time ago and now struggle to wear a denture because there isn’t enough bone left to hold it in place.
It makes me feel really happy when I can tell people that they don’t have to continue to suffer like this, that today, in a high street dental practice in Coatbridge, we can use dental implants to help them.
With few simple procedures, your mouth will feel comfortable again and you will be able to smile and eat in public with confidence.
How Dental Implants Can Stop Your Denture Moving
For anyone who is struggling with dentures that move, there are two different implant options that we offer at Coatbridge Family Dental Care:
1. Implant-Retained Denture
An implant-retained denture involves the placement of implants in the jaw. We then construct you a bespoke, well-fitting, top quality denture which snaps onto these implants like a popper on a jacket.
An implant-retained denture is sometimes called a ‘snap-on denture’ because of this.
The implants give the much-needed support and stability to your denture, meaning you can eat and smile with the confidence that your denture won’t move around.
Implant-retained dentures were shown to be associated with significantly higher ratings of overall satisfaction, comfort, stability, ability to speak and ability to chew compared to conventional dentures in this study published in the Journal of Prosthodontic Research.
In fact, implant-retained dentures should be the first choice of treatment for patients with no bottom teeth according to this consensus statement from 2002.
I’m delighted that we are able to offer this highly recommended treatment at Coatbridge Family Dental Care.
My patients who have had this treatment often find they can eat things they’ve been unable to eat for years such as corn on the cob, steak, nuts and apples.
And because the implants stop the denture from moving around, they find they no longer have ulcers or a sore mouth and that their implant-retained denture is very comfortable to wear.
2. Implant-Retained Bridgework
With implant-retained bridgework we place implants in the jaw and then construct natural looking, accurate bridgework onto the implants.
Implant-retained bridgework is the most realistic replacement for teeth. My patients tell me that it’s like having their own teeth again and not at all like wearing a denture.
Implant-retained bridgework is fixed in your mouth and is not removed, very like real teeth.
This is the gold standard of treatment for a patient with no lower teeth, because it functions more like natural teeth and as such offers greater levels of patient satisfaction and a more positive impact on quality of life, according to this study in the British Dental Journal.
It’s feels great to be able to offer such a treatment here in Coatbridge.
Dental Implants Can Allow You to Eat Anything You Want
I’ll never forget the patient who came to see me saying all she wanted to be able to do was bite into a corn on the cob. When I saw her for her review after we’d fitted her new teeth, she brought me a present of a packet of cobs to tell me how delighted she was that she could eat them again!
Another happy patient I won’t forget is Caroline. You can watch her story in the video below. It makes me smile every time someone like Caroline tells me what a difference we’ve made to their life and that they can eat anything, anytime they want.
You can watch more of our patients who are delighted with their implants here.
Find Out More About Dental Implants
If you’re having problems with an existing denture and would like to find out more about how implants could help, call our team at Coatbridge Family Dental Care on 01236 421103 or contact us here to arrange a consultation with me.
We see patients who are interested in dental implants from all over Scotland.
We’d love to help.
Blog post written 24th June 2021
(Please note prices and information are correct at time of publishing and may be subject to change. Please contact us on 01236 421103 or info@coatbridgedentist.com for the most up-to-date pricing and information)