Dental extractions are a common procedure for dentists to perform on their patients. In fact, you may have had the procedure done several times already in your life. But there’s a good chance that you have never heard of dentures before reading this article. You see, although tooth extractions are fairly common, denture usage is not. This is because after having your teeth extracted, you can either wait until new ones grow back (which can take as long as two years) or get dentures.
Tooth extractions and dentures are both procedures which involve removing or replacing teeth with something else. However, they go about it in very different ways and each has its pros and cons depending on your circumstances and preferences. Here is what you need to know if you ever find yourself needing to recover from tooth extractions and dentures.
What’s the Difference Between Tooth Extractions and Dentures?
There is a lot of confusion about the difference between tooth extractions and dentures. The short answer is that dentures replace all your teeth whereas tooth extraction only removes individual teeth. Dentures are made from plastic or acrylic material which fits over the gums.
They are usually fitted by an experienced dental professional and provide artificial replacements for missing or lost teeth. Tooth extractions work in a similar way but this only removes one tooth at a time, leaving others still present.
Why You Might Need a Denture
While tooth extractions are common and can be done in your dentist’s office, dentures are not. Dentures are made after the extraction to replace the teeth that have been removed. This is a much more involved process than just removing teeth, as dentists will have to take an impression of your mouth and use it to create a mold or template for the denture.
Dentures are often used when patients need dental work done but don’t yet have enough time for their natural teeth to grow back. This is because they need some way to eat and speak while waiting for their new teeth to grow back in, which can take up to two years depending on the individual.
How Do Dentures Work?
Dentures are typically used after tooth extraction because they take the place of teeth and allow you to chew food without discomfort. However, dentures have to be taken out before you go to bed so that your mouth can rest. Additionally, dentures don’t come in a one-size-fits-all form like implants do, which means they need to be adjusted in order to fit your mouth correctly and comfortably.
Dentures are made of acrylic or plastic, which is then shaped into the desired shape and inserted into your mouth. Dentists will then trim them down until they fit properly around the gums in your mouth. Denture wearers cannot eat anything too hot or too cold because these temperatures may cause their new teeth to become damaged.
Recovering From Tooth Extractions: Itching, Pain and Bleeding
Dentures are typically the preferred option after a tooth extraction because they don’t involve waiting for teeth to grow back. However, you will have some other issues to deal with when recovering from an extraction and dentures. Tooth extractions can cause problems like itching, pain, and bleeding in your mouth.
This is due to the fact that there are no longer any teeth in your mouth to buffer these things. Also, if you had any wisdom teeth pulled it could cause dryness of the skin around your lips and gums as well. You see, wisdom teeth are sometimes taken out without replacing them with dentures or implants which can lead to this dryness of the skin.
You may also experience difficulty chewing food since you no longer have the same amount of teeth as before. If you are getting a set of dentures after tooth extractions, then it will take some time for your new teeth to adjust. For six months or so, you may notice more discomfort than usual while eating and talking.
Your denture may feel like it’s moving around in your mouth because until now it had been attached to healthy gum tissue that supported it and kept it in place. Now that there is only bone where the gum tissue used to be, there is nothing keeping your denture positioned correctly against your jawbone where it needs to be to work properly
Recovering From Tooth Extractors: The Bottom Line
If you need to recover from tooth extractions, the first thing you should do is wait for your mouth to heal. This will take about a month or two depending on how healthy your teeth were and how many teeth you had pulled. After healing, it’s time to get a denture. Your dentist will make an impression of your palate and gums which will be sent to a lab where they will create your new set of teeth.
Once they arrive back at the office, they will be fitted and adjusted for your mouth before being put in place. Dentures are often what people think about when they hear the word “tooth extraction” because it’s more common than tooth transplantation (see below).
Dentures are made from acrylic and metal which can be either partial or full. They can also be made of silicone if you have sensitive oral tissue or gum issues after having tooth extractions done. Partial dentures can replace just one tooth while full dentures are used to replace all of them in a row with some gaps in between each tooth.
References:
1-Removable partial dentures: The clinical need for innovation
Available online 23 March 2017, Version of Record 1 September 2017.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prosdent.2017.01.008
2-Autogenic tooth transplantation the “state of the art”
Available online 15 April 2004.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9416(80)90003-2
