Snap on dentures

We hear all the time from our patients how life changing dental implants are when they are done appropriately.   Patients become very emotional when they describe the positive change effective treatment has made for their quality of life.  Indeed, one of the greatest modern advances in lower denture therapy are “snap-on” dentures. Consensus groups at Mc Gill University in 2002 have even called it the “standard of care” for lower dentures.  However, sadly we often meet patients that have wasted money on implants placed in inappropriate locations, sometimes with much care, precision and expense.  A few tips to save money when contemplating implants to control your dentures are not widely adhered to are:

1. When your teeth are failing, don’t have any implants placed until a prosthodontist has made a sensible plan for you based on the long term prognosis of the rest of your teeth.  They cannot be removed easily or moved to other locations in your mouth after they are put in if the rest of your teeth around them are lost. Implants installed for crowns usually do not work for dentures and visa versa.  The cost for them is often just a waist.
2. Implants for upper dentures are usually not necessary for an effective result if the denture is properly molded by a prosthodontist to fit well.  This can be a huge savings to you by eliminating the expense of unnecessary number of implants and the cost of their future maintenance.
3. How many implants are needed?  As few as it takes to satisfy the requirements of an optimal result—usually only two if placed in the correct orientation.  More implants usually means more initial cost and more future maintenance cost for only a small amount of additional satisfaction.  This is a documented by a published study of thousands of denture wearers that reported their satisfaction after two implants and then after two additional implants, showing more bang for your buck with the first two and only a little more after the second two.
4. Dental implants not placed parallel don’t allow the snap-on mechanism to work properly and require more maintenance cost in the future.
5. Dental implants not placed deep enough do not leave room for denture teeth to fit over them—this results in a thin denture that is weak and breaks and leads to more replacement cost.
6. Mini implants are for mini jaws.

The final result is what matters.  Prosthodontists are specialists in the final result.  They see the treatment through from start to finish to ensure your result is appropriate and effective and affordable. 

Dr Rod Andrus is Southern Utah’s ONLY board certified prosthodontist and exclusively serves adults with advanced dental needs.  He can be reached for appointment at 435-674-3100.