Acrylic dentures are a common tooth replacement option. Dentures can be partial or full depending on how many teeth need replacing.

As well as making it harder to chew food, missing teeth can also impact your speech.

Replacing missing or damaged teeth can bring renewed confidence to a smile. This in turn boosts self-confidence in social situations both at work and in personal lives.

If you are considering tooth replacement options, acrylic dentures offer the most affordable solution.

What Are Acrylic Dentures?

Acrylic dentures are made from a plastic that is easy to mold. This allows them to be custom-made according to measurements taken from the patient’s mouth. Once made, they sit on the gums and form a seal where they have replaced the natural teeth.

This type of denture is a popular choice, constituting around 80% of partial dentures. Once molded, they quickly set to form a rigid denture, whether partial or full. The purpose of the denture is to restore functionality as well as a natural look to your smile.

When to Consider Acrylic Dentures

1. Missing Teeth

Dentures are a non-invasive option to replace missing teeth. This has traditionally been the go-to option to replace a set or row of teeth and restore a confident smile. Although they do not replace the tooth root, they do offer some support beneath the soft tissues to help preserve a fuller look to the face.

2. Tooth Extractions

Gum disease or an impact injury can necessitate the extraction of a tooth or several teeth. Replacing them with a denture provides a quick tooth replacement option, allowing you full chewing functionality again.

3. Damaged or Worn Teeth

Similarly, oral health issues such as gum disease can lead to tooth decay and the erosion of tooth enamel. If you already have teeth that are missing, the remaining teeth can wear down faster as they are being relied on more when chewing food.

4. Restore Your Smile

Knowing you have missing or damaged teeth can make you self-conscious of their appearance and leave you reluctant to smile. A denture can be made to match the size, contour and color of the surrounding teeth to restore a confident smile.

5. You Do Not Qualify for Other Options

Dental implants and bridges are also established and effective ways to replace missing teeth. However, not everyone will qualify for them. There needs to be enough jawbone to support the titanium screw for implants. If the tooth has been missing for a while jawbone may have been lost.

Certain health conditions that could affect the healing process can also disqualify you from dental implants. With dental bridges, you will need the teeth that support either end of the bridge to be healthy enough to qualify for the procedure.

6. Easier on the Budget

Acrylic dentures remain the most affordable way to replace missing or damaged teeth. As well as costing less than other replacement options such as dental implants, they are also less expensive than having a denture made from chrome.

Not only are they easier on the budget, the procedure is also non-invasive and your denture can be in place within a couple of weeks of giving the go-ahead to your dentist.

Malabsorption

When you have missing or damaged teeth, it can affect the foods you choose to eat. You may avoid certain foods which you find difficult to chew. You may also not be able to chew healthy foods enough to enable digestion. The outcome can be that you are not receiving the necessary nutrients in your diet.

This increases the risk of a condition called malabsorption. This is where the body is not capable of absorbing the required nutrients from what a person eats. Bloating, stomach cramps, fatigue and diarrhea are among the early symptoms of the disorder.

However, without a diagnosis, a lack of nutrients can result in long-term problems including anemia, weight loss, increased risk of bone fractures and wasting muscles. If the lack of nutrients results from missing teeth then dentures may be recommended to ensure you can eat and chew all the healthy foods your body requires.

Further Benefits

Dentures remain a traditional choice as a tooth replacement option because it is non-invasive, more affordable, and can be delivered by your dentist in a short period. However, they continue to deliver benefits to the recipient even after they have been fitted. Three further benefits include:

An acrylic denture is easy to alter, which allows someone to have clasps added if they feel like they need extra support. This style of denture does not require clasps attached to the mouth, but they can be easily added. For some people, this can provide an extra degree of confidence in a denture as it may feel more stable.

A denture is subject to all the wear and tear from chewing food just like your natural teeth. Therefore, they can wear down or possibly crack or chip. However, the material the denture is made from can be repaired by adding more acrylic to the affected area to restore the denture to full working order. A damaged denture can be dangerous, so it is important to get any cracks or chips fixed.

The moldable nature of an acrylic denture also makes it easier to add new teeth at a later point if required. This works in a similar way to having a denture repaired. Therefore if you have a partial set of acrylic dentures fitted and lose another tooth you do not need to have a brand new denture made, you just add one additional tooth to your existing denture.

Acrylic dentures are a popular choice for denture wearers. If you are considering replacing missing or damaged teeth, you can talk to your dentist about whether this more affordable option is best for you.