I am about to have three more teeth pulled which will put me down to just my two front teeth on my upper arch. I have almost all of my bottom teeth and they are healthy. Currently, I’m wearing two partial dentures up top, but I find them remarkably uncomfortable. I’ve talked to a couple of dentists and am getting mixed opinions on whether or not to extract my teeth and get full dentures for the top or to save those last two upper teeth. Right now, I’m so miserable with the partials that I take them out to eat and am pretty much just chewing on the front teeth. Do you have a tie breaking opinion?
Cath
Dear Cath,
I want you to bear in mind that I have not examined you. Everything I tell you is based just on my understanding of what you’ve written. In most cases, having your natural teeth is the goal and I would say to save every tooth possible. That being said, yours is a unique circumstance.
If you are just eating on those front teeth, the stresses on them will wear them out fairly quickly, even if they are healthy. Plus, your natural teeth are going to be much harder on your lower teeth than a well made denture.
Because you are talking about your upper teeth, you are in a much better position. With your lower teeth you would have to worry about bone resorption. This is because lower dentures rest on the ridge of your jawbone. The longer you are in dentures, the more bone resorption shrinks that bone. After ten to fifteen years, you would no longer have enough of your jawbone left to even retain your dentures. Dentists call this facial collapse.
The way to prevent that is by placing dental implants into your jawbone and securing the dentures to the implants. These implant retained dentures, sometimes referred to as implant overdentures, will preserve your jawbone.
Your upper teeth are held in by suction, and the bone resorption is not really an issue. In this particular case, I would say you are better off extracting those last two upper teeth and getting a full upper denture. You’ll be much more comfortable. I highly recommend you make every effort possible to save your lower teeth, though.
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