The term Immediate denture usually implies extraction of the natural teeth and immediate or delayed insertion of the dentures same day.
There are two different ways:-
One of the most common methods used in a general dental practice where no on-site laboratory is present, is the denture is fabricated prior to any extraction and the denture is inserted immediately after extraction.
One of the severe drawback for using this method is, Patient do not get a chance to verify the aesthetics and the clinician cannot verify the occlusion as the denture has already been fabricated and some patients might not like the aesthetics of the denture.
At London Denture Care, we have on-site dental laboratory and we use a different approach and in our experience, it has given us good results on numerous repeated occasions.
So, what is the difference?
When a patient attends the practice on the day of the treatment, we go through the consent process again and ensure patient is happy to proceed with the treatment and there has been no changes in the medical condition since the last visit.
The dentist than uses Local anaesthetic to numb the patients and begins the process of Teeth Extractions.
Once the extractions are done, primary impressions are taken and sent to the lab in the same premises and the fabrication of denture begins.
The second stage involves:- special tray impressions which are created specifically for the patient enabling us to record an accurate information of their Anatomy.
Bite registration blocks are used to determine the facial height, smile line and centre line of the face. Once the correct bite is determined, the blocks are sealed together using a bite registration paste.
Patients are given options for shades, this is something personal for everyone. We can guide the patient but the patient will have a final say when selecting the final shade.
Third stage: - At this point, we will insert the hand fabricated dentures and the patient will be able to see the new smile and get a good feel of the denture.
The teeth are usually set on a wax base which makes it easier for any necessary alterations.
The Dentist, Clinicial Dental Technician and the patient will verify the occlusion and aesthetics. Once we all approve, the set-up the denture is finally processed in the final base material i.e Acrylic or Flexible. The processing stage usually takes between 4-5 hours.
Final Stage:- The processed and polished dentures are fitted and the Aesthetics and occlusion is verified and the patient can see the final result.
This is a better and safe approach to ensure satisfactory final results.
What to expect from the immediate denture?
This is a big change for the patient, patient will need time to get used to the new denture.
Due to the extractions, there will be bone and gum resorption. The denture will become looser with time and there will be space between the denture and the gum, this is due to the resorption.
The healing time is usually between 3-6 months, during this time the patient will continue to wear the dentures and denture Fixative must be used to ensure stability and retention.
The patient will attend after 3 months, the Dentist and the Clinical dental Technician will check the healing and if they are satisfied the denture will be Relined i.e. The gap between the gum and the denture will be filled with a permanent acrylic material using the relining process. This process usually takes few hours and it improves the denture stability and retention.
From time to time, if there are serval extraction, we also inform the patient prior to the treatment that the denture must be replaced in the near future.
The first set dentures are relined and maybe used as a spare set of dentures.
We Reline all the immediate dentures after 3 months and depending on the nature and complexity of the case and the number of extractions, we will inform prior to the treatment whether a new set of dentures are needed.
In many cases, The denture does not need to be replaced and after the relining the patient can continue to wear the same denture.
