Loose lower dentures 5 solutions Case 2 Lower Denture with Special Dental Crowns

Lower dentures are normally the trickiest denture for people to get used to. Here are 3 reasons they are often loose and uncomfortable.

1. Your tongue is the strongest muscle in the body. It can easily flick a lower denture around.
2. A lower denture only has a thin horseshoe shaped area of gum to sit on (unlike an upper denture which can rest on almost the whole surface area of your upper jaw & palate and also has suction). The lips are pushing the lower denture backwards and your tongue is pushing it forwards.
3. An older denture may not fit as snugly as when it was first made. Over time the jaw bone reabsorbs (or shrinks). This resorption happens the most during the first 6 months after a tooth has been removed.

Loose lower dentures – 5 solutions

1. If you have an old denture that used to be comfy and that you are happy with, appearance wise, but has become loose, an option is to realign the fitting surface. This means putting a new layer of acrylic (pink plastic) on the fitting surface of the denture. This fills up any gaps between the denture and the gum
2. Making a basic new denture
3. If there are teeth present making a denture with clasps (or hooks) that clip around the teeth to aid retention
4. If there are teeth present placing dental crowns on teeth adjacent to the denture with special attachments which the denture snugly clips onto. Special attachment crowns which also have milled parallel walls make for a very satisfactory solution – a secure denture and no visible clasps or hooks – see my case below
5. Retaining the denture with dental implants

Case study – Lovely lady from Takapuna who wanted a lower partial denture with Dental Crowns with milled parallel margins and special attachments

This lovely patient had several lower teeth that had failed. After removing them and letting the lower gums heal I placed two dental crowns on her lower eye. These crowns are precion made with special attachments & parallel walls that the denture snugly fits into. I then constructed a lower chrome cobalt acrylic partial denture that clicks into the special attachments & milled margins of the two dental crowns. Run your mouse over the picture below to view before and after.

Here is the view from the front. Note that without denture clasps the cosmetic effect is more pleasing.

Posted by Andrea

Milford Dentists is proud to help the good people of the North Shore with all their dental requirements; especially in our mission to help make comfortable, functional, aesthetically pleasing, natural looking dentures - From Devonport and Belmont up through Takapuna, Castor Bay,Mairangi Bay & Browns Bay as well as Albany, Northcote, Hillcrest & the Whangaporoa Peninsula give us a call - 09 4896575.