What Is a Partial Denture ?
Are you suffering from tooth loss? Perhaps you're worried that you might need dentures. You know all about dentures–probably from television–how they can clickety-clack, slip, and come out stuck in an apple! Perhaps your grandparents even had dentures, so you saw them firsthand soaking in a glass on their bedside table. But did you know that there are "partial" dentures? What is a partial denture?
Full Dentures
Everybody needs their teeth so they can chew a variety of healthy foods, smile, and talk to their friends without embarrassment, but believe it or not, tooth loss affects millions of adults, even today. For edentulous patients (patients who have lost all of their teeth) full dentures can help them regain their confidence, an esthetically pleasing smile, and a healthy, functional bite. However, if you haven't lost all of your teeth yet, there is another option.
Partial Dentures
While a full denture replaces all of your teeth on the top or bottom of your dental ridge (or both), a partial denture can restore your bite if you are not yet edentulous. For instance, if you've lost several teeth, but not all, and the missing teeth are interspersed throughout your bottom (or top) ridge, but not in a row, a partial denture can rebuild your smile by fitting around the teeth that still remain.
Partial dentures are removable and usually have replacement teeth fixed to an acrylic-base that matches the color of your gums. The acrylic-base may cover a metal framework, depending on the type of partial needed. The partial will also have some form of clasp that attaches to your natural teeth and holds the denture in place.