Immediate Dentures to later convert to Implant Dentures:
There are two ways to get dental implant dentures. The methods depend on what the condition of your oral health is. For patients with adequate old fashioned dentures, Dr. Nugent can upgrade them to dental implant dentures. For patients that still have teeth immediate dentures are made.
1. Patients currently with Dentures.
For patients with dentures Dr. Nugent can convert the dentures to dental implant dentures. Dr. Nugent’s oral surgeons will place the dental implants. The dentures will be worn while the bone is fusing with the titanium implants. Once the implants are anchored into the bone, Dr. Nugent will take advanced impressions to record the position and orientation of the implants. Then the dentures are sent to the lab and you will return the next day to receive your new dental implant denture.
2. Patients with Failing Teeth.
If you have failing teeth Dr. Nugent will start to make you dentures working around your remaining teeth. This usually takes two or three short appointments. You will be able to pick out the color and shape of your new teeth. Dr. Nugent will then have you immediate dentures completed. You will have your remaining teeth extracted with the oral surgeons and the dental implants placed. The immediate dentures are then put in and act like a band-aid over the surgery site. While you wait for the implants to fuse with the bone you will experience all the horrors of old fashioned dentures. Furthermore, your immediate dentures are going to fit worse than old fashioned dentures because the immediate dentures were made around your existing teeth. The lab is guessing where the gum tissue and bone levels will settle at. You will have to use denture adhesives and your denture experience will be miserable. Once your implants have fused with the bone you will return to Dr. Nugent’s office. He will take special impressions to properly index the position of the implants and send the impressions to the lab. Then you will return the next day for your new implant dentures.
The dental lab will A) convert the denture to an dental implant denture B) reline the denture. A reline is resurfacing the underneath of the denture to better contour the gum tissue. A reline is important for immediate dentures because the original dentures were made with teeth still in the mouth. The underneath of the immediate denture was a guess as to where the gum tissue and bone levels would end up after the extractions. The reline will get the underneath of the denture adapted and resurfaced.
