What benefits do dentures provide?
What can I expect from my first denture?
What types of dentures does Blue House offer?
I have a denture I don't like. What can I do?
How are dentures made?
When were dentures invented?
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What benefits do
dentures provide?
1. Chewing ability - this is drastically improved by replacing
toothless areas with denture teeth. The ability to chew well
contributes to overall health and nutrition, as well as improved food
enjoyment.
2. Aesthetics - the presence of teeth provide a natural facial
appearance; and wearing a denture to replace missing teeth provides
support for the lips and cheeks, preventing the "collapsed" appearance
that can often occur after losing teeth.
3. Speech - by replacing missing teeth ―
especially the front teeth ― patients are
better able to pronounce those words containing sibilants or
fricatives (sounds that require teeth, i.e. 'fifty', 'stilts', or
'tent')
4. Self-Esteem - Patients feel better about themselves when
their teeth look great. A full, beautiful smile can give
back the confidence a person may have lost when they lost their teeth.
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What can I expect
from my first denture?
The first time you are fitted with a denture, you
should notice a distinct improvement on your smile. However,
since the plastic appliance is unfamiliar to your mouth, you may
experience excess saliva for 12 - 48 hours as your brain acclimatizes
to the new feel of your denture.
Lisping, or "thick speech" can also happen at first
as your tongue learns the slightly new positions of your new teeth.
With practice, this will clear up in a short period of time.
A very few patients experience a temporary gag
sensation for the first few days of denture wear due to the unfamiliar
feeling of the denture on your palate. In the unlikely event
that this bothers you for longer a couple of days, adjustments can be
made to shorten the palate part of your denture.
As the denture settles into place over the first
days and weeks of use, you may notice areas of pressure or sore spots.
This is normal, and will be corrected at adjustment appointments until
your denture fits as comfortably as possible.
It will usually take about 6-8 weeks of wear to
become completely acclimatized to wearing dentures, so patience is
key. Starting with soft foods, and cutting food up at first
helps to train your muscles to eat with your new dentures.
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What types of
dentures does Blue House offer?
We Offer...
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I have a denture
I don't like. What can I do?
The human mouth is a living set of tissues that are
subject to constant change over time. For a denture to sit
securely and stay in place it needs to fit your tissues like a second
skin. As your tissues change over the years, you may notice your
denture becomes too tight or too loose. Sore spots may develop
or the appliance may start shifting in your mouth as you talk and eat.
If this occurs there are several things we can do to repair,
reline, or replace the denture for you. Generally, it is
recommended that a denture be relined at least every 2 years, and
replaced appx every 5 years.
Come on in and we can discuss your options!
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How are dentures
made?
The fabrication of a quality denture is both an art
and a science. First, your denturist or dentist will evaluate
your mouth in detail: quality & number of teeth still present, levels
of bone in your jaws, and your face shape and type are just a few of
the factors that will be noted.
Once your needs have been assessed, the denturist will take
impressions of your mouth. One impression will be made of your
top teeth, and one of your bottom. (see left)
At this point you can go home.
The denturist and lab team now take the impressions
made of your mouth
and
pour liquid plaster into them. Once hardened, the plaster models
are separated from the impressions. These 3D plaster copies of
your mouth become the template that the lab builds your custom-fit
dentures on.
The
denturist now places wax over the plaster model wherever the pink
plastic "gums" will occur in the finished denture. Next, teeth
are selected from our extensive supply. (Teeth come in endless
shapes, colours, and sizes to ensure that your denture matches your
face and any natural teeth you have.) The denturist places the
teeth into the wax, ensuring that they look natural and also mesh
together in a healthy "bite".
This "wax denture" is tried in your mouth to ensure
that the fit is going to be correct.
Once the plaster model, the wax, and the teeth are
all in the exact final position, a new impression is taken of the setup.
The individual denture teeth are then removed from the waxed up model
and placed back into their proper spots in the new impression.
The pink wax is all removed from the plaster model, and the model is
placed back into the impression on top of the denture teeth.
At this point, the impression is flooded with pink
acrylic. It flows into all the places left behind by the
now-missing pink wax. This acrylic is hardened with the help of
a pressure chamber.
Once hard, the new denture is popped out of the
impression and separated from the plaster model of your jaw. All
rough edges and extra acrylic are removed. Denture is buffed to
a high gloss and cleansed with sanitizer.
Voila! You now have a custom denture molded
to fit exactly to your specific mouth.
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When were dentures invented?
Examples of ancient Etruscan
dentures
Around 700BC, Etruscans in northern Italy made dentures out
of human or animal teeth. These deteriorated quickly (and could hardly
have been comfortable to wear!) but, being easy to produce, were popular until the mid
19th century.
The oldest useful complete
denture on record appeared in Japan, and has
been traced to the ganjyoji temple in Kii Province, Japan. It is a wooden
denture made from the Japanese Box tree, and was used by Nakaoka Tei (c. 1538).
Various types of wooden dentures were used in Japan up until around the 1870's.
London's Peter de la Roche is
believed to be one of the first 'Operators for the Teeth', men who fashioned
themselves as specialists in dental work. Often these men were professional goldsmiths, ivory
turners or students of barber-surgeons.
The first porcelain dentures
were made around 1770 by Alexis
Duchâteau. In 1791 the first British patent was granted to Nicholas
Dubois De Chemant, previous assistant to Duchâteau, for "De Chemant's
Specification", "a composition for the purpose of making of artificial teeth
either single double or in rows or in complete sets and also springs for
fastening or affixing the same in a more easy and effectual manner than any
hitherto discovered; which said teeth may be made of any shade or colour, which
they will retain for any length of time and will consequently more perfectly
resemble the natural teeth."
He began selling his wares in 1792.
One of
the most famous early denture users was George Washington. He was fitted with
them no later than 1764. President Washington's dentures are part of a new
display on exhibit at Mount Vernon.
In 1843, the American Charles Goodyear discovered how to make
flexible rubber, named vulcanite, which he made from india rubber. In
1851, his brother, Nelson, patented an improved manufacturing process to produce
hard rubber. Vulcanite found instant use in the fabrication of denture bases
world-wide and quickly replaced previously-used materials as it was cheaper.
Ivory dentures cost 25 guineas (a year's wages for a
housemaid). By comparison, a set of vulcanite dentures cost six guineas.
By luck, vulcanite dentures also became available just after
the introduction of anaesthesia. People who had preferred toothache to the pain
of extraction were prepared to have their rotten teeth removed, creating a
demand for the new vulcanite dentures. For the first time in history false teeth
were no longer a luxury only the rich could afford and were available to the
middle classes.
Vulcanite starts out as a soft, rubber-sulphur compound. It
fit precisely to a model of a patient's gums and palate. Porcelain teeth were
added, and the three components, model, uncured vulcanite and teeth, were
embedded in plaster and cured in a vulcanizing apparatus. The finished hard
rubber denture was hard, durable, light and had an excellent fit. Vulcanite
uppers were self retaining, with suction cups, making springs obsolete. Patients
could smile, speak and eat without fear of slippage.
The main disadvantage was that the material was dark-red in
colour. Diluting the material to obtain the pink "gum" colour weakened the
vulcanite. So a facing of pink was incorporated into a denture made of
stronger rubber. A better aesthetic solution was achieved by using teeth with an
attached section of pink porcelain gum (right).
In 1864 in the USA, the Goodyear Dental Vulcanite Company was
founded and every dentist had to obtain an expensive licence to use the material
and was also charged a royalty for each denture made. Although many dentists
bought licenses, the dental profession as a whole opposed the patent and
licensure and protested. The Goodyear Company prosecuted non-compliant dentists
in the USA. The struggle reached a climax when Goodyear's financial director,
Josiah Bacon, was shot dead by Samual Chalfant, a dentist, in 1879.
The Goodyear patents ran for 25 years finally expiring in
1881 when dental vulcanite came into general use world-wide. In the UK in 1881,
vulcanite dentures dropped in price to £5, (appx. a week's wages for a
labourer). Vulcanite dentures were the first functional, durable and affordable
dentures, marking a great advance in dental treatment for the masses.
In the 20th century, acrylic
resins and other modern plastics became the standard for denture construction.
Modern acrylic full
upper & lower dentures
(for a person missing all their teeth)
|
Modern acrylic & metal
partial lower denture
(in this case, for a
person missing
their four lower left back teeth only ―
the silver clasps
grip the remaining natural
teeth to hold the denture steady) |
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