Dentures-tell me the truth!

[NoEffingWay]

I’m mid 40’s and have teeth that are prone to decay. This visit to the dentist I’ve been told they are impeccably clean but because of having some extracted over the years, it’s time to look at dentures.

Part of me thinks that this would be great, and my smile would be restored. It would just be an upper partial, as the bottom teeth are in great shape.

The possibly more vain side of me feels sad that it’s come to this, I always thought it may happen when I was much older. I also worry that it’s the least sexy thing ever, keeping your teeth in a jar overnight!

Anyone else suffered the indignity of being told your teeth are doomed and it’s time to get the dentigrip on the shopping list?! Can everyone tell they aren’t your own teeth? Will they fall out at odd times? Do I need to take them out at the gym?

Implants take the same amount of time and effort to care for as natural teeth. They will fail through lack of oral hygiene, something that is often the first sign of onset of dementia. When a patient with previously perfect mouth starts to attend with poor oral hygiene it is a red flag.
That or they need to wear their reading glasses while brushing so they can see how much rubbish they are leaving behind.

In addition osteoporosis affects the jaw bones and implants rely on good bone for anchorage. We are only just seeing the first implant patients who had implants 20-30 years ago reaching their 80s and some are experiencing problems.

I have worked with dementia patients throughout my practicing career and those that wore dentures used to remove them regularly and lose them, particularly in care homes. I was forever replacing them. Mostly it was their relatives that insisted on them having teeth. The patients often couldn’t remember ever having dentures and treatment was often difficult.

The care homes would often keep the teeth safe to be used when relatives visited. I have many sad/funny stories about dentures in care homes. One resident would collect sets of dentures in her handbag. They would then call us to do a visit in order to reunite patients with dentures. We had to take impressions of all the residents involved to match them up with their teeth.

I think we have to accept that no amount of modern dentistry is going to solve the deterioration of mouths that comes with age, chronic disease and dementia.Very few of my elderly patients are worried about their appearance, they are much more concerned with lack of function. Fortunately modern diets allow us to maintain nutritional needs which in the natural world is the main life limiting factor, so we live much longer than nature intended us to.

Thank you! So interesting

and funny about the collecting dentures! My mil was the same with glasses 😂

How much did it cost to get them all taken out because mine are so bad that I'd love to just rip them all out and have lovely white dentures. M not yet 40 either😅

@Angrymum22 re
“Implants take the same amount of time and effort to care for as natural teeth. They will fail through lack of oral hygiene, something that is often the first sign of onset of dementia. When a patient with previously perfect mouth starts to attend with poor oral hygiene it is a red flag.”

This is absolutely true but the original research on implants by Branemark was for two implants per arch to support a full denture and these have the longest life of all implants and are the least demanding hygiene wise . If I or a relative had full dentures or dubious prognosis teeth I would , if finances allowed , get implant supported dentures and all dodgy teeth out . It’s miserable when someone has had a really well maintained mouth that has had a lot of dentistry done and then oral health starts to deteriorate really rapidly and relatives expect teeth to be retained when the kindest thing is , if at all possible , get rid whilst you can.

Unfortunately the “heavy metal brigade”, ie the people who have kept their teeth into old age but have had a lot of dental work to achieve that , are now approaching the time when it’s impossible to salvage teeth that have had so much done to them , but unlike previous generations , have never worn even partial dentures so are faced with massive dental challenges at an age when it’s difficult to adapt.

Somewhat ironically this is a problem those who have gone down the Turkey teeth avenue in their 20s and 30s have to face at a much earlier age because no one told them when they had 28 teeth veneered , crowned etc that they would need replacing at 10 year intervals, each time destroying more tooth.

Lovely white dentures that you may struggle to wear, eat and talk with and from the moment your teeth are taken out the gum and bone starts to shrink and dentures fit less well and you may start to have to think about implants to stabilise your dentures.

Unless your teeth need taking out no dentist will take them out just because you ask , they know the irreplaceable value of natural teeth and would face severe sanctions for taking out healthy teeth.

That's the thing, I haven't got healthy teeth. Am in need of 5 surgical extractions already and the others are going the same way. If they were healthy I wouldn't have wanted it

It’s much easier to get used to part dentures as your own teeth will help to preserve bone and hold the dentures in place. Even if it’s only a couple of teeth but the more you have the easier it is to wear a denture successfully .

Talk to your dentist about dentures , NHS will be , depending on where you live , £260 to £360 roughly and privately it will depend on materials used , complexity and whether it is just one denture or a top and lower set and how customised you want the teeth and gum parts £400 to £4000 roughly .

I very recently had a partial lower denture (NHS)
I have Hypodontia, a condition where you have adult teeth missing. I have two Maryland Bridges at the top either side of my front teeth that have lasted incredibly well and were fitted at The Royal London who I was under as a child.

A couple of my lower baby teeth have now come out and bridges weren’t an option due to the size of the teeth either side so we initially have gone for the denture option and I am not getting on with it.

It just feels like so much plastic in my mouth, I felt very gaggy with it in although that has worn off a bit, I can’t eat properly and it makes my mouth so dry, my dentist told me to give it a good few months to get used to it but so far it’s a thumbs down.

We have a private denture specialist in my town who I popped into just to discuss what options they have so may try that.

@Angrymum22 it is interesting to read about a dentist with a missing tooth. I am sixty and last year lost a bottom six-year molar that had been on borrowed time for at least fifty years as it never formed properly and was damaged by the antibiotic Tetracycline. After decades of repeated fillings followed by a crown, the crown fell out last year and the only option was to have the tooth removed. Even this was dramatic because it took two dentists to try and remove it. After all this (and it was painful), more x-rays were taken and it seems the roots have fused with the roots of the two teeth either side. Apparently, I also have very strong bones, too. The upshot is that I am still waiting for sedation to have the remaining roots removed. The only permanent way of filling the gap would be an implant, which I can't afford and don't think it necessary, as a bridge would mean drilling into the two teeth either side, which are healthy and have never had any work done on them.. l have left well alone and am used to the gap now.

Your comments about overzealous postwar dentists are so very true. Fortunately for me, l was late getting my second teeth, which meant that the overtreating was coming to an end and also l had a more conservative, prevention minded dentist. This means that I have a fairly good set of teeth for my age. Fluoride toothpastes were starting starting to come in as my second teeth came through, which I am sure has helped. However, my teeth have deep fissures and I wonder if the same was true of my baby teeth where most of the back teeth were filled, l think now, unnecessarily, - without pain relief! This was true of many, if not most, children of my generation. Our parents would take us to the dentist every six months and we would always need at least one filling - often two, three or even four. By contrast, my own children never needed any. This was often repeated on second teeth, especially for people who are five or ten years plus older than me. It makes me feel sad and not a little angry that our parents thought they were doing the best for us but the reality, with hindsight, was completely the opposite. No wonder so many people born between around 1945-1970 are members of the heavy metal generation and, as a result, still very nervous about dental visits.

Actually fluoride toothpaste was introduced in the U.K. in the early 1970s and that had a massive effect on decay rates which is why people had so many more fillings in the past .

The NHs dentistry was introduced in the 1950s and fees were rapidly imposed as so many people needed dentures .

Even these days a lot of work on baby teeth is done without anaesthetic (eg stainless steel crowns ) because it is much less traumatic without injections, co operation is better and it can be done much more comfortably than a filling on adult teeth.

Parents did do the right thing as dental health increased massively from the 1950s onwards , people kept more teeth longer all the way through the 50s , 60s and 70s. So the idea that people had unnecessary fillings , whilst perhaps true for a tiny minority , is really an urban myth and dentistry made massive strides in helping people keep more teeth for much longer than their parents generation.

@Lollygaggle thank you for clarifying a few things. I can remember the whole primary school being given a tube of Signal 2 in the early seventies. I have always thought that l was lucky that fluoride arrived in time for my second teeth, even if it was unavailable for the first. The silver crowns were not around in the early seventies when I was having fillings in my baby teeth and the drill did the job but was nowhere near the speed of today's drills so was much more of an ordeal.it also meant that larger areas of tooth were drilled as a result. However, it is fifty-odd years ago and I have always tried to look after my teeth. They are in quite good shape for someone of my age and, l hope, will last for the rest of my life. As l said before, my children had a clean bill of health every time we went for checkups. I was strict with their diets, particularly with what they drank and made sure they brushed properly. When my daughter had braces, l bought disclosing tablets for her as l knew it was extra important to keep her teeth clean at that time. I, myself, mostly drink unsweetened tea or coffee. I don't actually like fizzy drinks, especially Coca Cola, except, occasionally an old fashioned lemonade as a treat

Turbine drills were introduced in the early 60s so the drill used would have been as fast as today’s, however the holes drilled were a bit bigger because dentists didn’t have the materials they have today . Even today most baby teeth fillings are done without anaesthetic , it builds up confidence and , hopefully , diet changes will mean no more fillings and decay doesn’t progress.

Well done for diet and cleaning regime , diet is the number one factor and frequency of eating and drinking sugary things is critical, sounds like you have done the right things.

When I was in junior school in the 1980’s some of us we given fissure sealants in some of our teeth .i believe it was a bit of an experiment but I think it helped prevent decay in my teeth at least .

So much easier to have residents’ names etched on the teeth!

1’m 77 and suffered from drill fill and bill in the fifties and sixties.I still care about what they look like. My teeth are now high maintenance as I want to keep them for as long as possible. I have bridges and crowns on upper and lower teeth. I’ve had several root canals . If I had to choose between a luxury holiday and teeth, teeth would win.

Just to update, I got my NHS dentures yesterday and they have completely transformed how my teeth look, I have been smiling without feeling self conscious for the first time in years! They feel odd in my mouth but I have been eating and drinking normally. The care of them is going to take a bit of getting used to but overall, I think it’s the best decision I have made regarding my teeth in a while. I may upgrade to a private set and will start to save up for them soon, as they were £1K vs £326 so I had to be financially sensible. The private set would probably be a better fit, as the NHS ones need some fixodent to make them feel fully secure.

Ah that’s brilliant news. I hope the experience wasn’t too traumatic. I bet you feel like a different person now.