Dental Education Lecture: When to Make New Denture?

Fig.1	Fig.2
Fig.3	Fig.4

In this lecture, we are going to show you what complete (full) dentures look like outside our mouth and discuss when we need to make new set.

Fig.1 and 2 show two pairs of dentures: top ones for upper jaw, bottom ones for lower jaw.  It is obvious that the dentures in Fig.1 are old, whereas the ones in Fig. 2 are new.  When do we have to make new dentures?

Usually about five years.  After extraction, our jaws and gums undergo gradual shrinking.  In approximate five years, our jaw bone underneath the denture may become so small that the denture are quite loose.  We may have to use denture adhesive to keep them in place.  Moreover, the old dentures look pretty bad (Fig.1).

Can we tell whether old dentures are loose in this patient (Fig.3)?  Yes, because he can not smile big when he wears the old dentures.  If he smiles big, the top denture will drop down.  When he puts on new dentures with better fit, he can smile much bigger (Fig.4) without worrying about denture dropping off.  He can also chew better. 

It is easier for the dentist to make new dentures if we have old ones.  He or she uses old dentures and new materials to take impression for better fit and in less appointments.  The duplication process is called Celara, designed by the late Dr. Graham Philp.

Xin Wei, DDS, PhD, MS 1st edition 05/10/2009, last revision 09/28/2012