I was born with bad teeth and not enough of them. I suppose I was lucky to not have to deal with any wisdom teeth. I had two baby teeth until I was 45 and having them removed has really sucked. I can't chew using my molars so I'm always using my bicuspids and incisors. I asked the dentist if I should just have them all removed and get dentures but he tells me I'd regret it. I get the same story from older folks, too. However, I have a feeling that I'm going to regret not doing it sooner.

Anyone have dentures and hate them? Anyone have them and wish they would have got them sooner?

Not a dentist, but I believe the issue may be the duration of remaining life without OEM teeth vs. the actual immediate performance of the fake choppers?

I had 5 aunts and uncles with them and mom and dad.

They said that life was very much better with ,than w/o.

It seems ,as time goes by people don't want to do anything that might want to require doing a tiny bit extra.

case in point:
C pap gizmo's , All the extra hassle is no where near worth it for me , screw that ,
If I "go" tomorrow , I will have died fortunate and happy , considering.

My grandpa has had them for decades and he's almost 80 now. He is getting implants which are supposed to be far superior.

Implants if you can afford them is the way to go.

Implants are better, but they are considerably more expensive.

I just had to choose between an implant and a cantilevered bridge. The bridge cost about a third of what an implant and a couple crowns would. Beyond price, an implant can take up to a year to be usable. Depending on age, you might not want to lose that year. But yeah, implants are the best option otherwise.

My only experience with dentures is my uncle. He had terrible teeth problems as a young guy, had them pulled and got dentures. He's 95 now and has no regrets going that way, he eats whatever he wants.

**edit** As I think about it, the cost would be well over double, not three x. At my age, the loss of time was a bigger factor.

Traditional dentures should be considered the last (and worst) option. The ridge of bone that supports your teeth will begin to resorb as soon as the teeth are removed. As time goes on, there is less and less to keep the denture from sliding around. If you are only talking about replacing a few missing teeth, implants are far superior.

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
I just had to choose between an implant and a cantilevered bridge. The bridge cost about a third of what an implant and a couple crowns would. Beyond price, an implant can take up to a year to be usable. Depending on age, you might not want to lose that year. But yeah, implants are the best option otherwise.

My only experience with dentures is my uncle. He had terrible teeth problems as a young guy, had them pulled and got dentures. He's 95 now and has no regrets going that way, he eats whatever he wants.

**edit** As I think about it, the cost would be well over double, not three x. At my age, the loss of time was a bigger factor.

I went with an implant for last molar. It did take time. Pull tooth, wait for heal, install implant base wait, install tooth on implant base. Interesting thing they had a small torque wrench they used to tighten implant into bone. I don't remember exactly but I believe it was over 9 months.

Thanks for the info and warnings. I appreciate it.

I may have to get a couple of bridges so that I can chew in the back again.

quote:

Originally posted by Vanwall:
Interesting thing they had a small torque wrench they used to tighten implant into bone. I don't remember exactly but I believe it was over 9 months.

That was the tiniest torque wrench I've ever seen. They also use a miniature slide hammer for lifting crowns.
 

Implants. Best investment you can make on yourself. Just don’t fall for the “one time visit” procedure. Done right will take time.

I have two stories about dentures.
My father (who had a good set of teeth), had them all pulled and got dentures at 54. He hated maintenance and didn't want to deal with teeth issues or dentists into old age. He never regretted it.
My son, who tends to not listen to his parents, ignored dentists and basic teeth/gum maintenance throughout his formative years. By the time he hit 25 he had already had 9 teeth pulled. A couple of years ago, he seemed to have some mouth pain and agreed to go to the dentist for a checkup. The dentist took some X-rays and gathered us for a meeting. He told me that my son had 3 good teeth, 3 dead teeth and the rest needed major work. We all agreed that pulling them and getting dentures would be the best move.
With pulling teeth and getting fitted for two sets of dentures (a temporary and permanent set), and an approximately one year process, I can tell you that it has changed his life.
He no longer is embarassed to meet people or has insecurity issues. A huge difference.

Your son had a tough choice to make, but cases like your dad's are kind of silly. It's like amputating your legs because you don't want to cut your toenails.

My Dad was one tough SOB. I still don't pretend to understand him. I loved him, and I miss him, but we didn't see eye to eye. I'm 55 now, and my teeth are staying right where they are as long as I can keep them there.

I am going to need possibly 2-3 implants fairly soon. There is no way that I want another bridge, or dentures. Eating, pain free,and what I want, is one of the best things in life these days. Expensive....yes, but so are guns and ammo!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GT-40DOC,

I just had an implant done. 4 months for healing after removing the remnants of the OEM (love that...) tooth and inserting the base. Then another month after having casts taken waiting for the crown to be ready.

ZERO issues. Not cheap, but worth every penny IMHO. In fact, I'm missing the same tooth on the other side and had x-rays done to see if there's bone enough to do an implant there. There is, I'm gonna go for it in the Spring assuming I can save up the cash over the Winter.

Two words: bone resorption.

Your bone needs forces against it - in this case teeth / implants.

Permanently removing them - basically tells the underlying bone 'hey we don't need you anymore' and it starts to resorb vs. the natural regeneration that should be occurring.

(I am not a dentist but work in this field)

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I got full dentures about 10 years ago and am perfectly happy with them. Between hockey and football I only had a few real teeth left and they were being problem teeth so they were pulled and full dentures in their place. They don't fit as good as they did when I first got them but I don't have any problem eating anything I want. The dentist told me I might have issues with fit when (if) I see 80 but I figure my teeth won't be my biggest problem if I see 80. I'm sure implants are far superior but they're also far more expensive.

My dad and father in law wore dentures for over 40 years and both told me they ate whatever they wanted.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig209:
Two words: bone resorption.

Your bone needs forces against it - in this case teeth / implants.

Permanently removing them - basically tells the underlying bone 'hey we don't need you anymore' and it starts to resorb vs. the natural regeneration that should be occurring.

(I am not a dentist but work in this field)

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Wolff’s Law