A Guide to Dentures: Learning About the Many Different Options for Dentures and Which One is Right for You

Dentures are a good option to consider when you are missing multiple teeth. They are typically custom-made for you to fit your mouth seamlessly at Clove Dental by our expert dental staff with the highest quality materials in the industry to be able to last a long time and give you a beautiful and natural smile. 

Dentures can be removable. There are pros and cons to having removable dentures. There are many options in the form of dentures nowadays and with recent technological advances many new options are not your grandmother’s dentures (if your grandma had dentures twenty plus years ago.) Dentures can be developed from a variety of materials such as porcelain, acrylic resin and even flexible polycarbonate. These materials have their own advantages and disadvantages that affect the appearance, durability and cost of the dentures and can be partial or full and stay in place in a variety of ways 

Your options for dentures now include: 

• Partial dentures (removable partial dentures and fixed bridge partial dentures)
• Complete dentures
• Transitional or Temporary dentures
• Snap-in dentures
• Overdentures
• Economy dentures
• Custom dentures

Partial Dentures 

Partial Dentures are for when a user is missing some but not all of their teeth and allow for you to keep your existing teeth in place, sometimes even used as anchors to maintain a better fit and reduce slippage. Partial dentures can be removable or fixed in place. Removable partial dentures are meant to be taken out and cleaned daily. Fixed partial dentures are fixed permanently to your remaining teeth with cement on both sides of your gap. Fixed partial dentures are a more stable option for patients and cause less slippage than removable ones, however, they are typically also more expensive and require more dental work than removable partial dentures. Even with fixed dentures it is important to clean and properly maintain them and your remaining teeth and gums to prevent gum disease and protect your oral health. 

Complete Dentures

Complete dentures replace all of your teeth in your upper or lower jaw or both. At Clove Dental they are custom-made to align with your jawbone and fit the shape of your gums. The dentures rest on your gums since there are no teeth to anchor to. An advantage to having complete dentures is their ability to help a patient restore better speech and chewing if they have lost their teeth and restore appearance and often confidence by giving a natural look, however there are some disadvantages to complete dentures. They often take time to get used to and often feel somewhat loose or uncomfortable for patients in their first week or weeks. Since these complete dentures are custom made to the contours of your gums at Clove Dental they are less likely to slip as traditional dentures of the past, however they are still more likely to shift in daily activities because they do not have existing teeth to anchor to and only rest on the gums. If a person is experiencing excessive slippage they should contact their dentist to adjust and update the fit of their dentures. 

Temporary or Transitional Dentures 

Here at Clove Dental we offer temporary dentures for our patients while their complete dentures are custom made with the latest technology and materials so that our patients can enjoy their smiles while they are waiting for their complete dentures to come in. There may be some slippage since these are less tailored to the patient’s specific mouth. 

Snap-In Dentures 

Sometimes also called implant-supported dentures, snap-ins are a denture that attaches to dental implants placed in your jawbone. Monikered “snap-ins” because they snap directly onto these dental implants in the jawbone. They can be partial or complete sets, and are more stable and secure than traditional dentures because of this. Snap-in dentures have replacement teeth attached to a natural color base that matches the patient’s gums, which then snaps onto a few abutments (a connector) that holds the dentures in place. A benefit to snap-in dentures is that since they are so secured by being anchored with the abutments they allow for natural chewing and speaking and look and feel more like natural teeth. They are more expensive and require more foundational dental work to be able to have a secure and stable smile that looks seamless. 

Overdentures

A recent  advance in dentures has been the advent of overdentures, also known as overlay dentures, hybrid dentures, or tooth-supported dentures. This is when dentures are combined and anchored with dental implants. They can last between 10 and 20 years with proper care and provide increased overall oral function (better outcomes for chewing and speech.) These overlays are still removable like dentures with biocompatible titanium implants placed in the jawbone or remaining teeth. This makes for less slippage affecting speech or bite alignment that traditional dentures had and has the added benefit of reducing bone-loss; a benefit not seen in traditional dentures. 

Economy Dentures

Economy dentures are a low cost denture option that is not individually made for the patient. These tend to be more uncomfortable and create more slippage and can affect speech and natural chewing due to them being a one size fits all option. The main benefit to these kinds of dentures is their low comparative cost. Since they are not based on a person’s jaw, gums and mouth, they do not look quite as seamless and can annoyingly move around in the mouth. 

Custom Dentures

Most of the dentures written about above are custom dentures; they are designed and custom made to the patient so that they can fit best to the patient’s mouth making them more comfortable with a more secure fit than traditional dentures. They generally are made to have a natural appearance and often cannot be noticed as different from your natural teeth, giving you a natural smile for years! Custom dentures are the most comfortable because they are made for your oral anatomy. The precise fit of custom dentures can minimize slippage and enhance comfort of dentures. Importantly they can be virtually indistinguishable from your natural teeth often giving the patient back confidence in their beautiful smile!

Here at Clove Dental we care about your smile and want to give you the best options available to you. We listen to your wants and needs and make sure to take the time to have a conversation to evaluate your options so that you can make an informed decision. We pride ourselves on having state-of-the-art equipment in our offices in Riverpark, Oxnard, A Street in Oxnard, Ventura, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, and Beverly Hills and offering you the best standard of care with our dream team practices in Ventura County and Los Angeles County. Schedule an appointment with us today to discuss your dental needs and let us take care of your smile by booking online at clovedds.com or calling us at your preferred office location. 

Our Locations and numbers are: 

Oxnard Riverpark: 1000 Town Center Dr, Suite 250, Oxnard, CA 93036 805-983-7674   

Central Oxnard: 140 North A Street, Oxnard CA 93030 805-483-9537     

Thousand Oaks: 509 Marin Street, Suite 220, Thousand Oaks CA 91360 805-374-8484

Camarillo: 2107 Pickwick Drive, Camarillo CA 93010 805-819-2043

Beverly Hills: 9001 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 303, Beverly Hills, CA 90211 310-273-0726

Ventura: 3555 Loma Vista Rd Suite 217, Ventura, CA 93003 805-643-4184