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At Chelmsford Dental Specialists Group, our team is comprised of highly experienced general dentists as well as our regarded board-certified prosthodontist, Dr. Mario Gatti. He completed a Fellowship in Advanced Education in Esthetic Dentistry as well as a Fellowship in Surgical Implantology from New York University College of Dentistry. He’s also a Diplomate of the American Board of Prosthodontics and Fellow of the American College of Prosthodontists. All of these distinguishments allow him to provide you with beautiful, hand-crafted dentures that look, function, and feel as close to your natural smile as possible.
Start your journey towards a full smile today by calling our office and scheduling a consultation.
Dentures are an excellent option for any patient who is missing several or all of their teeth. If that’s the case for you, then you shouldn’t hesitate to schedule an appointment with our team at Chelmsford Dental Specialists Group. In the meantime, you can read on to learn the negative effects of missing teeth, the qualities that we look for in a good dentures candidate, and the other tooth-replacement solutions that are available at our office.
Unfortunately, even relatively mild tooth loss can lead to:
There are a few qualities that we look for in a good dentures candidate, including moderate to severe tooth loss, healthy gums, and a willingness to break harmful habits, like smoking. If this sounds like you, then take the next step: schedule a consultation with our experts at Chelmsford Dental Specialists Group. That way, we can review your dental history, complete a comprehensive oral exam, and learn about all of your tooth replacement options.
If we decide together that dentures aren’t the ideal tooth-replacement solution for you, then we will discuss the other options that are available, including dental implants! This state-of-the-art option is unique because it’s secured directly to your jawbone. Not only does this lead to more stability, but it also helps prevent bone loss, preserve your youthful face shape, and restore the strength of your bite that you lost.
Depending on your unique needs, our team may recommend one of three different types of dentures for you. We’ll discuss each of your options with you during your consultation and help you make the best decision for your budget, ideal timeline, and goals.
Partial dentures are designed to fit between existing teeth to restore the gaps throughout your arch. They utilize small clasps to stay securely within your mouth, allowing you to eat and speak much more easily.
Full dentures are designed to fit atop the gumline and use natural suction to stay securely within the mouth. They’re comprised of a gum-colored acrylic base and natural-looking, customized replacement teeth, allowing our team to restore entire rows of teeth.
Implant dentures offer the best in aesthetics and functionality by restoring both the visible and root structures of missing teeth. Instead of using natural suction, your dentures will be secured within the mouth to anywhere from four to eight dental implants that are fused with the jawbone.
Tooth loss can hinder your ability to perform many daily tasks like speaking clearly, chewing comfortably, and smiling confidently, but dentures can be a fantastic way to complete your smile with gorgeous and functional restorations. Here’s a brief guide to how a customized prosthetic device from Chelmsford Dental Specialists Group may be able to improve your life, but please feel free to contact our office if you’d like to know more about the benefits of dentures.
People who have suffered extensive tooth loss are often less willing to show their smiles, which can make it difficult to meet people and engage during social situations. This can set a person up for unpleasant emotions like loneliness, sadness, frustration, and depression, but receiving a gorgeous set of dentures from our Chelmsford dental office can help you grin and laugh confidently after tooth loss. Dentures can also improve your ability to speak clearly and chew easily, which can help you participate in social activities.
Tooth loss can change the way vibrations move through the mouth during speech and make it difficult to pronounce words and sounds clearly. Since dentures replace lost teeth with functional restorations, they can make it easy to enunciate properly during conversations. After you have a little while to get used to wearing dentures, you should find that speaking becomes increasingly comfortable and intuitive.
Many wholesome foods like fruits, veggies, meat, nuts, and seeds can be difficult to chew after losing teeth, which can set a patient up for health issues like malnutrition and indigestion. Thankfully, dentures can restore much of your chewing ability so you can enjoy a more diverse, interesting, and nutritious diet that helps your body stay healthy and strong and sets you up for smooth and comfortable digestion.
Dentures can help brace the remaining teeth and distribute the pressure of chewing more evenly along the dental arches, which can protect your natural dental structure from unnecessary strain and erosion and reduce dental drift. This can help keep your teeth in proper alignment while preventing painful injuries.
Having a smile you can feel confident with can help you make positive first impressions that lead to all sorts of exciting opportunities. Those who smile frequently are generally seen as more confident, competent, and trustworthy than those who do not, which can help them meet people, build rapport, win trust, make friends, and close sales. If your dentures help you distinguish yourself from the competition during a job interview or when being considered for a promotion, they may wind up paying for themselves.
Dentures are custom-made for your unique oral structure, making them highly functional and natural-looking. Every treatment process begins with a consultation with your prosthodontist in Chelmsford, Dr. Mario Gatti. From there, our team will get to work crafting you a set of stunning, life-changing replacement teeth that you’ll be able to use for years to come. You can learn more about the process of getting dentures below.
Once your gums have recovered from the extraction process, which normally takes around five weeks, your dentist in Chelmsford will make an impression to allow for the creation of your new dentures.
Dr. Gatti, our in-house prosthodontist, has completed years of specialized training specifically in the crafting of replacement teeth and treatment of tooth loss. His extensive experience and unique skillsets will allow our team to provide you with beautiful, custom-crafted dentures that stand the test of time and look completely natural.
Once your new dentures are ready, you will have an appointment for your initial fitting. After placing the dentures in your mouth, your dentist will make any needed adjustments to ensure that you obtain a good fit. Some additional appointments may be necessary to fine tune the adjustment process.
Naturally, there will be an adjustment phase while you get used to having a foreign object like dentures in your mouth. It is common to experience temporary feelings like irritation and soreness, as well as increased salivation. In time, you should begin getting used to them so that they feel like a natural part of your mouth. Ideally, you will not even notice that they are there.
In addition to adjusting to your new dentures, you will probably find that it will take some time to learn how to eat and talk naturally with them. Here are a few tips:
Dentures can completely transform the function and appearance of your smile by replacing lost teeth with beautiful restorations that enhance chewing and speaking ability. However, your appliance will only stay in good shape if you take excellent care of it. You’ll still need to practice excellent oral hygiene and visit our office every six months so your mouth can stay healthy and your dentures can be adjusted as needed. Here’s a quick look at a few excellent ways to keep your dentures in working order from the friendly staff at Chelmsford Dental Specialists Group.
Carefully remove and rinse off your dentures after each meal to flush away bacteria and loose food debris. This will help prevent accumulations of plaque that can lead to oral infections. When rinsing or otherwise treating your dentures with water, be sure to only use cool or lukewarm water since hot or cold liquids can warp your appliance and ruin its fit.
At least once a day, carefully remove your dentures for a thorough cleaning session. Begin by gently brushing each of the outer surfaces of your dentures using a soft-bristled brush and a little bit of unscented hand soap, mild dish soap, or an approved denture cleaner. Refrain from using regular toothpaste since it is too abrasive for dentures. It’s also important to carefully floss your artificial teeth. If you aren’t wearing your dentures immediately after cleaning them, be sure to store them in a vessel with cool or lukewarm water or an approve soaking solution to prevent them from drying out and warping. Always thoroughly rinse your dentures before wearing them after cleaning or soaking to prevent harsh cleaning agents from being placed in the mouth.
Before removing your dentures for cleaning, be sure to fill the basin of your sink with cool or lukewarm water and cover the surface of your countertop with folded towels to create a cushion in case you drop them. It’s also important to store your dentures in a place where they will be safe from curious pets and small children.
Wearing dentures without removing them for days can set you up for soft tissue irritation, oral infections, bad breath, and jawbone erosion. To prevent this, be sure to remove and soak your dentures for at least eight hours daily so your mouth has adequate time to rest and clean itself. Most patients remove their dentures before going to bed so they can resume wearing their appliances when they wake up. When not wearing your dentures, be sure to soak them in cool or lukewarm water or an approved soaking solution to prevent them from drying out and warping.
Pay attention to how your dentures look and feel and contact our office if you notice anything concerning. Be on the lookout for signs of oral infection such as mouth sores, gum irritation, or a foul taste in your mouth as well as symptoms of a poor fit such as popping or clicking sounds or the appliance sliding about on the gum tissue during use. Never attempt to fix your own dentures since you may damage them further or injure yourself in the process. We’ll be happy to address any oral health issues and adjust or replace your dentures as necessary when we see you at our practice.
Dentures may be the best way to replace your lost teeth and restore your beautiful smile, but it’s still perfectly reasonable to ask how much your appliance will cost before you commit to the treatment. Since each denture from Chelmsford Dental Specialists Group is completely customized according to the patient’s needs and preferences, the price of one person’s appliance can differ considerably from that of another. Here’s a quick look at how dentures are priced and how the team at our Chelmsford dental office may be able to help you manage the cost.
The cost of your dentures will be mostly determined by three factors, those being:
Cut-rate dentures can lead to chronic discomfort or even injuries due to poor fit and subpar construction. Appliances from our Chelmsford office are completely customized from high-quality materials so they can be incredibly beautiful, durable, and functional.
Implant dentures are restorations supported by titanium dental implants surgically inserted into the jawbone through the gum tissue, and the surgery and components used to place these devices make them more expensive than traditional restorations. However, implant dentures offer a wide range of incredible benefits that traditional devices cannot match such as:
Implant dentures may save a patient vast sums of money in the long run by negating the need to replace traditional devices every few years.
Many dental plans offer at least partial coverage for dentures, usually between 50% and 80%. However, we’ll have to evaluate your policy before we can determine exactly what it will pay. We’ll be happy to help you navigate your insurance benefits when we see you at our office in Chelmsford.
The team at Chelmsford Dental Specialists Group is proud to partner with CareCredit, a trusted third-party financier that can set qualified patients up with flexible payment plans that break their bills into easy monthly installments. We’ll be happy to help you explore your payment and financing options when we see you for your consultation.
Dentures from Chelmsford Dental Specialists Group are incredibly durable but not invincible. If you give your device excellent care, it may last between five and seven years before needing replacement, but many appliances fail earlier than that due to being dropped when they are being removed, cleaned, or inserted. A denture may also fail early if it doesn’t fit properly or if it has unseen defects like scratches or notches in its base, and a device that receives the best care can still wear out over time due to the stress of repeated use. When we see you at our office, we’ll be sure to evaluate the structure of your denture as well as how it fits so we can determine if it needs repairs, adjustments, or replacements.
We may be able to fix a compromised denture depending on the severity of the damage and how old the appliance is. The most serious problem a full denture can develop is called “prosthesis fracture,” meaning the device has snapped in two. This issue is more common among top dentures but can happen to bottom ones as well, and it usually requires the device to be replaced. However, minor damage like cracks or chips can often be fixed with composite resin, and a denture that no longer fits properly may simply need to be adjusted. In some cases, we may have to send a poorly fitting denture to a lab so it can be relined. Please contact our office in Chelmsford as soon as you notice that your dentures are damaged or not fitting well.
Each set of dentures from Chelmsford Dental Specialists Group is completely customized based on detailed measurements of the patient’s mouth, so your appliance should feel incredibly comfortable after you get used to wearing it. However, dentures can lose their fit over time due to wear and tear and the way the mouth changes shape as it develops. Wearing poorly fitting dentures can lead to issues such as trouble eating, speech difficulties, soft tissue irritation, oral infections, and damage to remaining natural teeth.
If your dentures aren’t fitting as well as they used to, please contact our office so we can find an appropriate solution to the problem. In many cases, a poorly fitting denture may simply need to be adjusted or relined, but a device that cannot be refitted will have to be replaced. You may be able to help your dentures fit more comfortably between adjustments by using a suitable oral adhesive.
