Knowing Your Options: 4 Different Types of Dentures

Have you lost one or multiple teeth? We understand how this can affect your confidence, comfort, and functionality. The good news? High-quality dentures in Ames or Perry, Iowa, can restore your chewing power and confidence. Don’t let failing or missing teeth hold you back any longer. You can count on Swanson Family Dental for dentures that look and feel like natural teeth. From comfortable bites to confident smiles, our premium dentures feel like having your real teeth back!

Types of dentures: What you need to know

Even with advanced preventive and restorative dental care, tooth loss is still common. Trauma, gum disease, poor genetics, and decay are common reasons people may lose their teeth. Unfortunately, missing teeth can affect one’s everyday life, making chewing, speaking, and smiling embarrassing and even painful. 

Dentures provide a simple, affordable solution for helping you regain your smile. Since tooth loss rarely happens predictably, dentures are available in different sizes and shapes to suit various needs. 

1. Standard complete dentures

These dentures are ideal for replacing missing teeth in one arch or both. They consist of artificial teeth secured on a gum colored, acrylic base. Upper denture covers the entire roof of the mouth (palate), extending across the gums and palate for stability and suction. Lower dentures are horseshoe-shaped to leave space for the tongue, resting only on the gum ridge of the lower jaw. Since there’s no palate for suction and less surface area, lower dentures are often less stable than upper ones, but can be secured by adhesives or implants.

2. Partial dentures

Have you lost a few teeth in a row? You don’t need complete dentures. We can design a partial denture to fill the toothless gaps and restore your appearance and functionality. Partials act like dental bridges, but are removable. Instead of being secured by crowns, they are attached to the surrounding teeth with detachable metal clasps. This gives you control over when you want to wear them. 

Our office uses life-like materials to fabricate your partials. They look like an extension of existing teeth, providing a seamless appearance. 

3. Implant-supported dentures

Conventional dentures are an age-old solution for missing teeth. However, modern advancements have emerged to make your dentures more stable and feel like natural teeth. Integrating implants with dentures is one of the best innovations in dentistry. This hybrid system ensures you get the best of both worlds: Implant’s stability and denture’s beauty. 

Dental implants revolutionize your dental restoration, whether for complete or partial dentures. They provide incredible stability that allows you to eat and speak without holding back. Dental implants also last long and provide unique benefits like jawbone regeneration. 

4. Immediate dentures

These dentures are placed immediately after extracting your teeth, ensuring you don’t spend a day without teeth. Same-day dentures allow you to heal without an edentulous smile. However, since your gums and underlying bone change as you heal, immediate dentures need frequent adjustments and are eventually replaced by customized permanent dentures. 

Do you need a smile upgrade with dentures?

Missing teeth doesn’t mean the end of your beautiful smile. Dentures at Swanson Family Dental can revive your smile, ensuring you smile, speak, and eat like you did before tooth loss. Ready to get started? Call any of our two offices: Ames (515) 233-2174 or Perry (515) 465-5170 and discover the life-changing benefits of high-quality dentures.