Posted by writeradmin
I am having a hard time with my dentures. They do not cover the area where I have my wisdom teeth were and I am chewing on my gums. My dentist seems to not think this is a problem. Am I wrong in thinking that they should cover this area? If I am, is there anything to make this more comfortable or do I just need to learn to chew differently?
Sammie
Dear Sammie,
While dentures have a lot of chewing problems, this is one your dentist could solve. The truth is your denture should have gone back a bit further. Dentures should cover the wisdom tooth area and a little bit of what is known as the retromolar pad. You don’t want the denture to cover the entire retromolar pad because that will cause problems with how your upper and lower denture would fit together.
The problem is that to fix this, your dentist would have to redo the dentures completely. My guess as to why your dentist is putting you off is that you have already paid for these dentures and he doesn’t want to do more work for no money. If, by chance, you have not paid him I would insist he fix this before you do.
If you have paid him, you could show him this blog post so he’ll realize his peers are not impressed with his lack of professionalship. If that doesn’t work you can leave a negative review, which will impact his business. Other than that, the only thing you can do is go somewhere else to have them redone.
Be Aware of the Long Term Consequences of Dentures
When your teeth are removed your body immediately begins to resorb the minerals in your jawbone in order use them elsewhere in your body. This shrinks your jawbone. Eventually, usually in about ten or more years, you will not have enough of your jawbone left to even retain your dentures. In dental circles, this is known as facial collapse.
The way to prevent this is to have dental implants placed into your jawbone and anchor the dentures to them. These are sometimes referred to as implant overdentures. The implants will signal to your body that you still have teeth and will need your jawbone. You will also find that you will have a much higher quality of live with implant retained dentures. They are completely secure and your chewing capacity will go back to normal.
This blog is brought to you by Lafayette, LA Dentist Dr. John Theriot.