With missing teeth or ill-fitting dentures, your facial muscles will begin to sag, giving you a lopsided, sunken appearance. But with properly fitting dentures designed at the correct height, your face will be proportioned as it should.
When you wear complete dentures, and all your natural teeth are missing, bone shrinkage occurs. A lack of bone to support your facial muscles can affect your face shape. Additionally, dentures rest on your jawbone and make the bone shrink faster.
When you're wearing dentures, your jawbone can lose volume, including in the chin area. This causes the muscle attachments to change, causing the muscles and the fat they support to move downward, creating a sagging chin that is often described as witch's chin.”
After about 10 or so years, there won't be enough jawbone left to retain your dentures. This is what is known as facial collapse. Dental implants prevent that. This is because the implants serve as prosthetic tooth roots.
When you wear dentures that don't apply any neuromuscular principles to their design, your facial features aren't receiving the support they need after you lose your natural teeth. This can cause your skin to become loose which results in sagging skin on the lower third of your face and more wrinkles around your mouth.
Some people worry that dentures will make them look older. Thankfully, this is far from the truth. Not only are today's dentures incredibly realistic looking, but if you pair them with dental implants, you'll end up with a smile that will look and feel completely natural.
They can be too wide and make your mouth look bulky. For most people, dentures will feel big, but it's only on rare occasions that they look too big, though it does happen. You can also get puffy lips and cheeks if your dentures don't fit together properly.
Ideally, your dentures should support your lips and cheeks, but if they are too large, they can actually push your dentures outward, resulting in puffy lips and cheeks. The correct fitting of dentures can usually prevent this, but the denture flanges that go around the gums can cause puffiness for some people.
Because dentures rest on that gum ridge and are customized to fit its shape and size, dentures loosen as this happens, and for many patients, end up feeling too big for their mouths.
The Progression of Facial Collapse
When your teeth are missing, your body begins to resorb the bone that was used to support those teeth. Over the course of about 10-20 years the jawbone shrinks significantly. This condition is known as facial collapse.
Dentures typically cause up to 70% bone loss within the first several years of use. Partials can have similar effects. Denture prosthetics are designed to rest or ride on gum tissue and do not provide direct stimulation to the jawbone as normal teeth or implants do.
Bulky dentures can cause your lips and cheeks to puff out. This can make you look like you've gained weight, especially if your dentures aren't tall enough. If dentures are really poorly made or fitted, they will just look like you have something foreign in your mouth, which you do.
In most cases, you won't be able to tell that someone is wearing dentures if you have well-fitting dentures that are professionally made, are regularly cleaned, and fit well.
Custom Dentures
These dentures are made of more expensive teeth, which gives you a more natural-looking smile. One can actually see the new denture before it's completed. This denture is customized for one's smile, so it's natural looking and suits one's needs.
Do Dentures Change Your Smile? Yes, dentures can dramatically improve your smile by restoring the look and function of your natural teeth.
One of the most famous people in Hollywood, Tom Cruise didn't always have his perfect smile. As he was proverbially “cutting his teeth” in Hollywood, his denture specialist was doing it literally. Tom had uneven sized teeth during his beginning years but you would never know by looking at his smile now.
Pain. Ill-fitting dentures can rub against the gums, causing painful irritation and inflammation. They can also put a strain on your jaw and facial muscles when you are eating and speaking, an issue that can exacerbate or even cause TMJ dysfunction.
Some of the most common problems with dentures are that: They tend to move in the mouth, especially while eating and/or talking. They collect and trap food which can lead to gums problems, decay and further tooth loss.
It can take a few weeks to adjust to dentures, but once your mouth is strong, you can eat just about any food. There will always be some foods that aren't denture-friendly, like chewing gum, popcorn, whole nuts, steak, and sticky candy.
Experts recommend that people who have lost more than two or three teeth seek some sort of prosthesis to prevent excessive pressure on the remaining teeth.
If your dentures are too big or short, your face might look puffy. Dentures that don't fit properly can affect the alignment of your chin and make your face look lopsided. During your visit to the Neenah, WI, dental office, your dentist will help you find dentures that fit well and enhance your appearance.
While most people associate dentures with older people, like their parents or grandparents, they are used to help people at any age. Patients as young as 30 years old can get dentures after they've lost teeth from advanced gum disease or decay.
Final Thoughts. When it comes down to it, you can wear dentures even if you have experienced bone loss. Your dentures may need to be adjusted once a year in order to maintain the proper fit to your mouth. While dentures might slow bone resorption, they won't stop it completely so your mouth will still change over time.