If you already have missing teeth, an acrylic partial denture can be made often in a day. If real teeth or crowns have snapped off, leaving spikes of roots sticking out beyond gum level, I usually get a dentist to flatten them before taking the impressions. As long as there are no holes or decay present, the dentist will leave the roots in, so there is less trauma to surrounding teeth and no gum shrinkage. This, in turn, also means leaving a more stable base for the denture as long as there is room with where your teeth occlude. This is a very common situation having what is called an overdenture.

Another common scenario. If you have one or more loose real teeth or crowns past the point of no return, it is easy for us to plan ahead. I can either recommend a dentist to remove the teeth and trim roots down, or I can work alongside your regular dentist. I need to see you first to assess the best way to plan your treatment – either to make a denture before the extractions called an “immediate denture” that’s ready to put straight in when the teeth are removed, or to take the impressions afterwards and make a denture quickly the same day. There are several reasons why one or the other would be better suited, so I need to see you to discuss it first. We can copy how your real teeth looked exactly or enhance them to look better depending on what your teeth look like. Before the extractions, I often take a photo, shade match and bite print of your teeth, so I have very accurate measurements to get the appearance right to copy the way the missing teeth looked.

This is a common scenario where I often see patients who feel that implants are their only option who haven’t had a thorough private quality denture consultation. I can help you make the right decision by discussing all of your denture options and show you examples of the different kinds and designs of suitable dentures and their likelihood of success. It is tough to generalise with this situation, but I find that dentures made properly are fine for the vast majority of the patients I see and at a fraction of denture implants’ cost. A lot depends on case specifics, as I refer a few patients each year for implant treatment. 

This all depends on how many appointments are needed, the type of denture required and the complexity of the case.  The normal timescale is around one to two weeks for straightforward cases.  It is also possible to make simple acrylic dentures in a day for emergency situations.

We can make what’s called an immediate denture that is ready to fit straight after the dentist has extracted your problem teeth.  Please note, however, in some cases, this is possible and can work very well, but in other cases, this can require some guesswork.  This really only works best for small acrylic dentures with only a few teeth on them. We would need to assess and plan treatment beforehand to see if your individual case is suitable for an immediate denture.  However, if any real teeth are too loose, there is a risk they could be pulled out when the impressions are done.  The denture will then have to be made quickly after the extractions, usually within a day.

Speech being affected and getting used to dentures depends on several factors:-

• The kind of denture you have – thinner Alloy/thicker Acrylic.
• How well made and designed the denture is.
• The shape of your mouth and palate depth.
• Your individual adaptive capability

When you speak, your tongue automatically knows the exact position and shape of your mouth to create the phonetic airflow gap to control the sound of your S’s, for example, and every other noise we create to talk.  Placing a new denture over your front teeth’ area changes the shape your tongue is used to. For partial dentures, chrome cobalt is the easiest to get used to as they are the thickness of a business card compared to plastic dentures that are several millimetres thick.

What is actually happening is your tongue maps the new shape to talk against, like a 3D scanner or a computer programme, and the interesting thing is that this is all happening subconsciously.  This is why some people can take a little longer to get used to talking normally again.  Don’t worry, though, as this is all completely normal, and most people are absolutely fine as long as the denture has been well made and correctly designed.

For the routine replacement of existing full dentures you have been happy with, the normal time frame is about two weeks to make them over three to six appointments. The complexity and amount of time vary depending on how many denture problems we have to solve with the appearance, fit, and function. Often an improvised copy denture technique will be used where impressions are taken inside your old dentures to copy all the settings we want to keep, such as the appearance and shape. Then nobody will know you have new dentures as you will look and sound the same.

An exact copy is an easy denture for us to make, but usually, when new replacement partial dentures are needed, it is because of changes to existing real teeth causing unstable dentures or breakages to the old denture. We then often have to redesign your new partial denture to solve any problems and make your new denture as future proof as possible.

A review appointment is made for you to check how you are coping with your new dentures. We often need to adjust slight pressure points under the dentures using pressure, indicating moulds to highlight the exact areas to target. We also check the occlusion to make sure everything is functioning correctly. This is all routine, part of our aftercare service and included in your treatment’s initial cost.