What Are Overdentures and How Can They Improve Your Life?

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Traditional dentures often need to be held in place using adhesive. However, overdentures are becoming popular thanks to their ability to get around the use of adhesive and provide stronger stability. Using overdentures can allow you to be more comfortable wearing your dentures, and they can even help prevent bone reabsorption.

So, what are overdentures?

What Overdentures Are

With overdentures, titanium implants are inserted right into the jaw. The bone will then heal around them. After the implants have healed, your denture can be altered to make it snap onto the implant. Sometimes the implants will look like natural teeth, but you also have the option of simply using metal posts that will be covered when the denture is worn.

Overdentures Provide a More Stable Platform

Perhaps the most popular benefit of using overdentures is enjoying a greater degree of stability. One of the main problems faced by people who wear dentures is the fact that they are quite hard to secure properly. If you feel the denture moving as you talk, it can be very unnerving, and the idea of the denture coming lose when you eat or talk is often absolutely mortifying.

Of course, there are reasons beyond embarrassment that make poorly-secured dentures a problem. People will often fail to chew their food properly, resulting in poor digestion, and any movement can irritate the gum tissue.

Luckily, overdentures use a very secure platform since the titanium posts will be secured directly to your jawbone. You should be able to chew properly as well as speak and eat without fear of losing your dentures. Additionally, you'll no longer have to spend time each day applying denture adhesive, making overdentures a very convenient option.

Overdentures Help Prevent Bone Reabsorption

Overdentures have benefits that go well beyond making eating and talking feel more natural. When you wear dentures, one of the biggest problems is bone reabsorption. The bone that holds your teeth needs to be stimulated; when your teeth are removed and the bone is no longer simulated, that bone will start to be broken down and then reabsorbed. It is this change in the jaw that often causes a sunken appearance to the lower face, and reabsorption can eventually make wearing dentures impossible.

However, the dental implants used for an overdenture can help. They will continue to stimulate your jawbone when you chew and eat, just as your natural teeth would have done, and that can significantly slow down the reabsorption process.


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