Dentures restore smiles to better oral function and aesthetics. At Potee Family Dentistry in Noblesville, IN, Dr. Meghan Potee designs and places these realistic artificial teeth, helping patients feel more like themselves after tooth loss.
Tooth loss happens
Sadly, it's very common across the United States. Many, but far from all, tooth loss patients are older adults. A Louisiana State University study shows more than one-quarter of Americans over the age of 74 are fully edentulous, that is, missing all their teeth.
Obviously, tooth loss impacts facial appearance, biting and chewing. But, did you know speech changes, too, as well as the shape and size of supporting gums and bone in the jaw?
At Potee Family Dentistry in Noblesville, Dr. Potee offers a variety of denture options that regularize facial features, speech and biting and chewing. Nothing looks and acts just like real teeth. Nonetheless, properly constructed, placed and maintained dentures help restore what decay, gum disease and accident take away.
Types of dentures
In her Noblesville office, Dr. Potee does comprehensive oral exams and X-ray imaging on all her denture patients. Impressions give the dental lab a negative imprint of oral structure so the technician can accurately craft the appliances from lifelike acrylic (and metal as needed).
Denture type depends on your tooth loss situation. Kinds of dentures include:
- Partial dentures which replace one or more teeth on a single arch. Partials mount on a metal frame and attach to remaining natural teeth with clasps or precision attachments.
- Full conventional dentures which replace an entire arch. Tooth- and gum-colored, these prosthetics stay in place with the suction of the upper or lower arches.
- Immediate dentures which your dentist places right after teeth are extracted. These dentures speed healing of extraction sites but need refitting once gums and bones shrink.
- Implant-supported dentures which are anchored into the jaw bone with titanium dental implants. These artificial teeth help the jaw bone stay strong.
Eat and speak well and look your best
At Potee Family Dentistry in Noblesville, that's the goal of Dr. Meaghan Potee and her team. You don't have to put up with tooth loss any longer. Call Dr. Potee for a denture consultation: (317) 773-0883.