Food is one of the most important connections we have with others. Whether it’s recipes passed down from generation to generation, or sitting down at the table with your family and catching up over dinner, food connects us to the people we cherish most. Unfortunately, with loose dentures, it can be difficult to enjoy food in the same way you did with natural teeth. Traditional dentures often lose their fit over time, causing them to shift with every bite. Without the ability to chew securely, you may find it challenging to eat certain foods! Corn on the cob, steak, and nuts may all be off limits to those with loose dentures. At the Mini Dental Implant Center of America in Springfield, MO, we understand these challenges and aim to provide effective solutions. With mini implant dentures, we secure your smile in place!
Why Do Dentures Loosen Over Time?
Traditional dentures rely on your jawbone for support. However, jawbones make for a poor foundation, as they tend to shrink over time without your natural teeth.
Natural teeth have tooth roots that extend into your jawbone, stimulating it whenever you bite or chew. Without these roots, your jaw experiences a lack of stimulation, resulting in a gradual loss of mass and volume. As your jawbone shrinks, your traditional denture loses its custom fit, resulting in loose or floating dentures.
Loose dentures have unfortunate consequences for patients, even affecting their overall quality of life. These consequences include:
- Sore gum tissue: As your prosthetic slides around on your gums with every movement, it often irritates the tissues there. This may result in denture sores, which make wearing your denture painful.
- Risk of infection: When your denture lifts up from your gums, food particles may slide underneath your prosthetic. If left there, they can accumulate bacteria and increase your risk of oral infection.
- Challenges with chewing: To chew food effectively, you need a strong bite. Certain foods become impossible to break down with loose dentures, forcing you to alter your diet and lose out on important nutrients!
Don’t let loose dentures prevent you from doing what you love. By using dental implants to secure your smile, the Mini Dental Implant Center of America in Springfield, MO, can restore both the appearance and function of your smile.
The Advantages of Mini Implant Dentures
Dental implants are titanium screws that we secure in your jawbone to replace your missing tooth roots. As artificial tooth roots, these implants not only stimulate your jaw when you chew (preventing bone loss), but also support restorations that replace your missing teeth!
At the Mini Dental Implant Center of America in Springfield, MO, we use mini dental implants to secure your smile. These small titanium posts are able to stabilize in minimal bone, reducing the need for additional procedures to rebuild lost bone structure.
Additionally, they feature a one-piece design that simplifies their placement process! Rather than requiring an incision in your gums and large drills, we can simply make a small pilot hole in your gums and bone. Then, after gently screwing your implant into place, it will immediately begin to stabilize.
For snap-on dentures, we can typically place your final restoration the same day we place your implants! However, for our roundhouse bridge restorations, your implants will require a slightly longer healing period. Fortunately, we provide you with a temporary denture restoration to wear in the meantime, maintaining the aesthetics of your smile.
Once your final implant denture is in place, you can enjoy a stable smile that restores your ability to eat with confidence.
Secure Your Smile in Springfield, MO, With Mini Implant Dentures!
If you’re struggling to enjoy foods like you used to with your traditional dentures, don’t wait! Book a free implant consultation today to discover if you’re eligible for mini implant dentures! In most cases, patients are able to replace their prosthetic with implant-stabilized dentures that keep their smile secure in just one appointment.
Connect with the Mini Dental Implant Center of America in Springfield, MO, on Instagram and Facebook to learn more about the mini implant process.
