One of the most common treatment in dentistry to replace missing teeth is dentures. Many patients who come in for dentures, often get a little confused when asked what kind of denture would they like. So today, I thought of blogging a little to make it simpler for my patients to understand what I have to offer them when I ask them this question.
Traditionally, dentures are either acrylic dentures (commonly know as plastic dentures) or chrome-cobalt dentures(also known as metal dentures). When a denture is used to replace a few missing teeth from the jaw (upper or lower) it is called a partial denture, and when a denture is used to replace all the teeth in the mouth it is called a full denture.
Partial dentures can either be made of acrylic or chrome cobalt, whereas a full denture is preferably made of acrylic. Either dentures work well in the mouth(functionally). The difference is the comfort. It is just like driving a high ended BMW or a Toyota. Both work well and will take you from point A to point B. The obvious difference comes when you want more comfort. The acrylic dentures are made a little more bulky to make them strong,whereas the chrome dentures are very well engineered metal dentures that cover the mouth as minimal as functionally possible, therefore more comfortable . Also,acrylic dentures on the top jaw can end up covering most of the roof of the mouth making it difficult to enjoy the texture and temperature of the food,unlike the chrome dentures which tend to cover very minimally.
Cost wise, the chrome dentures,compared to the acrylic dentures, tend to be more expensive and slightly take a little longer time to make due to the amount of steps required to get them engineered perfectly.
Hope this solves some doubts for some of you . For any more questions please call RDC on 54842010 or email me on shenai@rochesterdental.com.au
Regards,
Dr Anup Shenai
rochesterdental 