Advantages And Disadvantages Of Fixed Dentures

Dentist Blog

Tooth loss can be a result of several factors, such as advancement in age, pre-existing medical conditions and tooth extraction due to decay, among other reasons. When you lose teeth, it becomes difficult for you to chew food properly and it may even affect your speech pattern.

Dentures look exactly like your original teeth and are used for replacement when you lose your teeth. There are two types of dentures: fixed and removable dentures. This article discusses some of the advantages as well as disadvantages of having fixed dentures.  

Advantages of Fixed Dentures

Advantages of having fixed dentures include the following:

• Greater aesthetic appeal: Apart from their functional role, dentures also help to restore the beauty of your smile. Fixed dentures have a greater visual appeal because they are made of porcelain which looks much more like natural teeth as compared to their removable counterparts. Removable dentures have a pink acrylic plate that rests on the gum tissue where the acrylic white teeth are embedded.
• Greater Stability: Another great advantage of fixed over removable dentures is the fact that fixed dentures are more stable. As earlier stated, removable dentures are embedded onto an acrylic plate resting on the gums. Fixed dentures, on the other hand, are cemented over teeth adjacent to the affected area.  They are therefore less likely to fall off. The fact that fixed dentures are more stable also means that they are more comfortable for the patient because they will not move about within the mouth.

Disadvantages of Fixed Dentures

These include the following:

• Cost: Fixed dentures are disadvantageous because their initial cost of purchase is significantly higher than that of removable or temporary dentures. This is mainly due to the fact that their construction and installation mechanism is more labor intensive than that of removable dentures. Fixed dentures are also made of a more expensive material (porcelain) than removable dentures (acrylic).
• Speed of construction: Fixed dentures are also disadvantageous because their construction or fabrication takes longer than that of temporary dentures. This is also partly due to the labor involved in their construction. The implication here is that you will have to wait longer before you can have your dentures placed.
• Ease Of Cleaning: Fixed dentures are also harder to clean. This is because they cannot be detached and cleaned externally. It may not be very easy to clean hard-to-reach parts of fixed dentures.

For more information, contact a company such as Emergency Denture Repairs.

19 January 2015