Dental replacements

One of the crucial areas of dentistry is prosthetic dentistry. The loss of even one tooth may reduce chewing ability. The loss of several teeth may cause speech disorders. The face may become sunken, which may result in psychic problems. Essentially, two categories of dentures can be distinguished: fixed and removable dentures.

Fixed dentures:

If the crown of a tooth is substantially damaged or cannot be restored with methods of preservation dentistry (e.g. filling), a crown will be made. The crown is fixed on the tooth with cement which should be removed by a dentist only.

In case several teeth have been damaged, or are missing, these may be substituted with a set of crowns, called a bridge. A bridge is a kind of prosthesis the "pillars" of which are formed by the adjacent teeth.

Most dentures have a metal skeleton which may be of precious metal – e.g. gold – non-precious metal, or maybe titanium. The porcelain face is put on this metal skeleton manufactured in the colour that the patient chooses to suit the colour of the teeth in the mouth. Faceless dentures made of pure metal are only recommended for back teeth which are not visible, since for visible front teeth not only the reconstruction of functionality but also their aesthetic quality is important.

Among fully aesthetic and excellent dentures, non-metallic dentures are worth mentioning. These may be skeletonless, so-called jacket crowns, but the high tech in terms of dental materials is "procera" crowns with a skeleton in a colour identical with the face. After preparation of the teeth, the dental impression is scanned. Based on the data, a computer-controlled device prepares the skeleton for which a dental technician makes the face. This procedure safeguards a perfect aesthetic result and high precision.

If a tooth is damaged to such an extent that it is impossible to make a crown but the root is still safe, then the tooth must be reinforced with a pin and the crown is placed above it.

To facilitate the fixing of removable dentures, we suggest using telescope crowns. One of the requirements of this kind of denture is to have enough teeth in good enough condition inside the mouth to allow a denture to be put in. It consists of two parts: primary - this crown fits directly onto the already smoothed tooth and is fixed with cement; secondary – located in the removable denture and is an exact negative copy of the primary part. For this kind of denture, an exact fit is crucial.

Naturally, the patient cannot be without teeth in the interim phase, i.e. smoothing of the tooth and the final denture, either. In this period, we protect the tooth with a so-called transitional denture made of plastic.

Removable dentures:

A denture is removable when the denture is fixed to the remaining teeth and leans against the mucosa. A removable denture may be partial or full. A fully removable denture is required if there are no teeth inside the mouth. The suction effect resulting from the anatomical qualities of the upper jaw-bone plays a relevant role in fixing the removable denture. In the case of the lower jaw-bone, fixing is slightly more difficult due to its unfavourable anatomic conditions. Removal and insertion of these dentures occurs smoothly for all patients.

A denture is partially removable when the number and the location of the remaining teeth make a fixed denture impossible. In such cases partial dentures are used with the existing teeth enhancing stability. These dentures include metal and plastic, hence they are called metal plate dentures. An advantage of this denture is that it is thin and the size of the plate can be reduced, thus it may take less time to get accustomed to it. If the denture is fixed to the existing teeth with the help of precision mechanics devices, it is referred to as a combined denture. With this method, the risk that the plate will shift is low, but the denture looks aesthetically much nicer.

It is possible to make a temporary denture in the case of removable dentures as well. This speeds up wound healing and shortens the time needed to get used to the denture and is needed for aesthetic reasons as well.