Dental Education Lecture: Immediate Partial Denture

Mrs. Wu is 42 years old.  Three of her front teeth are very loose due to severe gum disease (receding) (Fig.1: teeth #6-8).  There is little bone (Fig.2,3: B) remaining with these three teeth, as compared that around the tooth #9.

Mrs. Wu is going to have a work interview in a week.  We first take impression and send models to lab to make an immediate partial denture in advance.

After extraction of these three loose teeth, the immediate partial denture is put on (Fig.4: D).  Suddenly she looks much better, compared to Fig.1.  The other advantage of the immediate denture is that it acts like a bandage to stop bleeding from wound (arrowhead).  The base (Fig.5: B) of the partial sits in the palate (the roof of our mouth) for retention.  The patient may initially experience difficulty with the partial because of the bulky base.

The first night of extraction, she needs to wear this denture to sleep.  If not, she may have hard time to put on the denture again next morning because of swelling developing overnight.  After the first night, she should take out the denture before bedtime.

Immediate partial is a temporary measure.  When extraction wounds heal, she should consider permanent solutions.  In this case, three implants are the best.  When all of remaining teeth are to be extracted, immediate complete denture can be made beforehand.

Xin Wei, DDS, PhD, MS 1st edition 03/23/2011, last revision 09/28/2012