PARTIAL DENTURES

Partial Dentures

It is very important to replace missing teeth for several reasons;
 Appearance.
 Mastication or chewing ability.
 Support of remaining teeth.
 Support of an opposing full denture.
Without complete dentition, you may not be able to adequately masticate your food. Mastication, as opposed to biting and swallowing, involves mixing enough saliva with your food so that you adequately dilute your gastric juices, thereby reducing the risk of digestive problems. Remember when mum told us as kids that we had to chew our food slowly so that we didn’t get a sore tummy?
A partial denture, as the name suggests, is to replace some missing teeth in either or both the upper or lower arch. Sometimes a partial denture is required in one arch simply for appearance. More often it is required to improve mastication ability, but if remaining teeth are left unsupported, they may also drift sideways or over erupt making future replacement considerably more difficult.
The other major reason to wear a partial denture is to support an opposing full denture. As an example, where you have a full upper denture and only six remaining lower front teeth – a very common scenario – when you bite on the front teeth of the denture, you will tilt the back of the denture down. Also it is impossible to satisfactorily masticate food without full dentition.

Valplast® dentures are made from an injected thermoplastic nylon.
They are flexible, translucent, clinically unbreakable and require no metal retainers because the flexibility of the base is used to retain the denture. Another retention option for Valplast® Flexible Partial dentures is clear or tooth coloured resin retainers. Repairs, reline or addition of future lost teeth may be possible, but the process often means you will be required to be without your denture for about a week. Ask your DP for more information if this may be a concern to you.

Lucitone® FRS™ is strong, adjustable and flexible. It is an injected thermoplastic nylon ,but is more rigid and therefore available for use in more situations than Valplast®. Another retention option for Lucitone® FRS™ dentures is clear or tooth coloured retainers. Repairs, reline or addition
of future lost teeth may be possible, but it is important to check with your DP.

Benefits include:
 Easy to adjust, grind and polish
 Injected with Success® for proven accuracy.
 Easy chairside adjustment
 Monomer and metal free
 Clear clasps; no more matching tooth shades
 Better impact and stain resistance vs. Valplast®

By. Dr. Ana Oviedo, Dentist Mexico