Get a grip on your dental health

With all we know about dental disease - its causes and its treatment - there is no good reason that anyone should end up losing most or all of their teeth.

Teeth can last a lifetime, and all it takes is the commitment to take care of them.

However, I must still prescribe dentures and partial dentures to my patients when they need them. I do it, but deep down I always get an uneasy feeling, worrying that the patient will eventually have problems with them.

Over the past 12 years, I have treated hundreds of patients with dentures who are either homebound, or reside in nursing homes.

Many of these people had their teeth removed years ago, and now their jawbones have shrunk tremendously. It's harder to make a denture stable when the jawbone is hardly there.

I wish that these people were never talked into having their teeth removed. If the teeth remained, the bone would not have shrunk.

I can be of limited help to them. If the denture is still intact but loose, I will reline the denture, which will make it fit the new, shrunken shape of the gums. If, however, the person has lost too much bone over the years, then even this procedure cannot create miracles. Or bone, for that matter. If the bone is gone, the foundation for the denture, even the most perfect denture, is compromised.

So, what's a person to do?

Think suction cups.

Have you ever seen an octopus? Their arms are lined with suction cup like suckers that create great holding power for the octopus, which puts the creature at a great advantage.

Now those suction cups have been recreated on dentures.

People who have poorly fitting dentures can improve their quality of life with suction cup dentures because chewing is made easier. And that's important. The simple fact is that if dentures don't fit well a person cannot properly chew food, and instead of eating a variety of nutritious foods, the person ends up eating only soft foods.

However, when the underside of the denture is made with all these little suction cups, the retention of the denture improves.

Here's how they work: As the person places the denture, the suction cups engage the gum tissue and grab on, much like a plunger would if you pressed it against the floor. The net result of all these little suckers is a denture that has dramatically more hold. You really have to see these dentures to realize how superior they are compared to the normal type.

If you or anyone you know is having a problem with dentures that don't fit properly, you owe it to yourself to find out about the "dentures from the deep," suction cup dentures. They are truly phenomenal.

Newtown Dental Care 7 Cambridge Lane Newtown PA 18940
Phone 215.968.7787