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.”
If you wear dentures, the movement of dentures actually tends to accelerate jaw bone shrinkage. You may notice facial shrinkage and an aging effect, as well as loosening dentures. Other than missing teeth causing atrophy, jaw bone loss can also be caused by gum disease, oral cancer or other pathology.
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. Dentures are designed to simulate natural teeth.
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.
Proper Fit
The goal with dentures is to reduce how quickly or hoe much it shrinks. Wearing dentures that fit properly make a huge difference. You need to use your dentures properly to stimulate the gum and the jawbone beneath it. This includes chewing with the dentures and making sure that they fit properly.
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.
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.
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.
Dentures Are Making Your Face Look Weird
This often causes wearers to feel like their smile is different and their resting face isn't normal. This is a common problem with new dentures but also disappears after a couple of days or once your body gets accustomed.
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.
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.
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.
Do Dentures Change Your Smile? Yes, dentures can dramatically improve your smile by restoring the look and function of your natural teeth.
Dentures cannot prevent facial collapse because they only replace the visible portion of the tooth. Dental implants, however, are titanium root forms that are surgically placed into the jaw.
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.
Studies reveal that people over the age of 40 are most likely to get dentures. Only 33.6 percent of people between the age of 40 and 64 do not suffer from teeth loss. As such, dentures become an indispensable part of a person's life once they cross the 40-year old threshold.
Dentures that are made well and fit properly in your mouth will allow you to speak clearly. They should be secure against the roof of your mouth, be sized properly with the right teeth height, and should not change the size of your mouth or the way sound will carry through it.
Learning to eat with new dentures requires time and patience. Before placing food in the mouth, bring the teeth together and swallow. This will help to seat the denture fully. Then place small bites of food in the mouth and chew it slowly on the side that seems the most natural and comfortable.
Make sure you're chewing straight up and down, not with a side-to-side motion, which can dislodge your dentures. Also try to bite completely through handheld foods like sandwiches rather than relying on a tearing motion to separate the bite you want, which could dislodge your dentures.
Certain changes in your facial features and bite can indicate jawbone loss. When tissue volume decrease in your jaw, you may notice that your mouth seems to collapse into your face, your chin becomes more pointed, or wrinkles begin to form around the mouth.
Expect Discomfort Early On
As a general rule of thumb, dental professionals are likely to tell you that adjusting to new dentures takes about 30 days, on average. You might not be keen to wait this long, but you need to be careful how quickly you try to get back to normal.
There is no limit to the number of teeth you can have extracted at once. While having multiple teeth extracted during the same procedure is rare, it is sometimes the only option for patients with severe tooth decay.
Implant Supported Dentures
With these types of dentures, a dental implant is used to support your denture securely. The denture offers a great amount of support for a strong foundation which allows your denture to stay securely in place. The dental implant is also long-lasting and looks natural.
Remember that the measuring of your mouth for regular dentures takes place after your mouth has healed from the tooth extractions. Therefore, you could go without teeth for weeks or even months waiting for your new dentures.