At Lovett Dental Corpus Christi, we understand the impact that missing some or all of your teeth has on you and your lifestyle. You don’t feel like smiling or talking. Missing teeth may limit what you eat to softer foods and liquids. This diet restriction is not only bad for your physical health, but it can affect your emotional well-being if you start to socialize less because of it. Tooth replacement is the answer to this problem. However, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. You’re probably familiar with traditional dentures and may know that there are several kinds of dentures. Only a qualified, experienced dental professional can tell you if hybrid fixed dentures are your best option for replacing missing teeth.
What You Should Know About Hybrid Fixed Dentures
Perhaps you’re wondering what makes hybrid fixed dentures different from ordinary dentures. These dentures are a type of implant-supported denture. To understand the difference, you first need to know what a dental implant is. In the spot where you are missing a tooth, an oral surgeon inserts a metal screw into your jawbone. This is the implant, and it’s most commonly made out of titanium. Once it’s there, the dental specialist can fix a prosthetic tooth onto that screw. With hybrid fixed dentures, the surgeon inserts four to six implants. Instead of individual teeth, full dentures are then attached to those implants. These dentures are permanent. Only a dental professional can remove them.
Implants are only one of our dental specialty services. At Lovett Dental, we offer a full range of dental services. This means all family members, no matter their age, can receive the care that’s best for their teeth. Our services include:
- General dentistry
- Cosmetic dentistry
- Children’s dentistry
- Oral surgery
- Specialty care
- Emergency dental services
The Hybrid Fixed Dentures Process
This type of tooth replacement is often referred to as getting teeth in one day. That’s because it’s one of the quickest kinds of dental implants. Once the oral surgeon places the implants, he or she attaches a set of temporary replacement teeth that very same day. These temporary teeth stay there for about six months. This gives your gums a chance to heal and the implants an opportunity to fuse with your natural bone. Once six months have gone by, the dental specialist screws permanent replacement teeth onto the implants.
Benefits of Hybrid Fixed Dentures
We advise patients considering dental implants about the advantages of this tooth-replacement solution, especially compared to traditional dentures.
First of all, dental implants are quite durable. With proper care, they can last upward of two decades. You clean them with a regular toothbrush, toothpaste, and dental floss. Once you have them, you can eat normal foods, even crunchy or hard ones like raw fruit. Best of all, they look and behave just like natural teeth. You can talk and smile with confidence.
You don’t enjoy these benefits with regular dentures. You have to remove these on a daily basis to clean them, often with a special soaking solution. There may be many foods you can’t properly bite and chew. In addition, there’s always the worry that food might get stuck between your gums and the dentures.
The biggest concern for denture wearers is that dentures don’t look or behave like natural teeth. They sometimes make clicking sounds, and it’s common for them to move around inside the mouth. As a result, people often feel ill at ease when talking, smiling, or laughing. Dental adhesives don’t always work to keep them in place. Dentures don’t last that long, either. You may need to replace some of them every five or 10 years.
These are just the more obvious benefits that hybrid dentures provide over conventional dentures. Dental implants also protect the jawbone and stop the bone loss that occurs after you lose your natural teeth.
Contact Lovett Dental Corpus Christi Today
With dental implants, you can once again enjoy the foods you love and feel confident in your appearance. Get a consultation from the board-certified specialists at Lovett Dental in Corpus Christi by calling 361-986-1117 for an appointment.
