Dental Prosthesis
A dental prosthesis is a solution for missing teeth. After having a dental prosthesis, you can achieve a normal dental appearance and use the prosthesis like your own teeth. A missing tooth can be a result of genetic heritage, an accident or wrong treatment. If the patient’s teeth are intact, dentists try to find a solution for saving the original teeth rather than putting a dental prosthesis. If the teeth are good, pulling a tooth and putting a dental prosthesis is not an ethical behavior and should not be advised by any dentist. If the tooth has decay or too weak to hold its position, it can be pulled and swapped with a dental prosthesis.
What Is a Dental Prosthesis?
There are two types of dental prosthesis: Removable prosthesis and permanently fixed prosthesis. The fixed prosthesis is supported by the other teeth and fills the missing teeth. This type of fixed prosthesis is permanently positioned and must be provided with proper dental care inside the mouth.
On the other hand, Removable prosthesis can be easily removed, and provided by dental care outside the patient’s mouth. It is a quite old method but it is widely used all around the World. Generally, it can be applied to patients who lost more than half of their healthy teeth.
Fixed Dental Prosthesis
This treatment can be applied to one or a few missing teeth. This prosthesis needs support from other teeth around the missing teeth. Supportive teeth are thinned and reshaped for a sturdy base and they can support 3 or 4-piece prosthesis. The treatment time is around 2 weeks and the lifespan of the prosthesis is around 6 to 7 years according to the patient’s mouth structure.
Removable Dental Prosthesis
This prosthesis can be applied to a patient with multiple tooth losses or a toothless mouth. It has a relatively easy usage compared to fixed prosthesis but it looks like a little bit unnatural. Especially, physically active patients are not choosing this type of prosthesis because they are afraid of dislocating their prosthesis during a normal daily routine. For a patient who lost multiple teeth, the only choice other than fixed prosthesis is dental implants.
A dental prosthesis is like our natural teeth and they must be provided with proper dental care. If they are not provided with proper dental care, the dental prosthesis has a shorter lifespan.
