Palateless upper dentures ?

iMax

Anyone know if it's possible to get palateless upper dentures ?

I'm missing a number of teeth (just out of view when talking but not smiling). I have a palate unit, but it drives me nuts when talking/eating.

would much rather not wear at all than put up with it, but... if I could get a palateless upper denture I think I'd probably have a lot more personal confidence

Wibbs

Options would be bridgework or titanium implants in jaw to which a tooth or teeth are attached. The latter being very expensive and time consuming(knew someone who got them). I think there are specialists in the area as it's a bit more involved than a filling.

I think it depends on where the gap is too. If it's one of your front teeth a bridge would be ok(I have one) if it's a molar missing, I'm not sure.

Google the implants and get thee to a dentist for the lowdown.

iMax

Had considered implants or bridgework but for now the cost is prohibitive. I really want to get something to "make do" for now

aidan01

i have implants, after being years with dentures, both upper front teeth.
implants costed be €4,500, 1/3 of which i got back from tax office, eventual cost €3000, which can easily be borrowed.
up the north is cheaper than in the republic, and ive been told you still qualify for a tax rebate
also, if you are willing to go ever farther away (asia), the costs are a fraction of what we pay here.
if you dont want any of that, palet-less dentures do sort of exist
the teeth are mounted on either silver or stainless steel partial palet.
this system is not possible in all cases.
the pallet is only around the edge, im not sure how good they work.
i hope ive been of help to you
good luck

Victor

aidan01 wrote:

also, if you are willing to go ever farther away (asia), the costs are a fraction of what we pay here.

Of course, this would be without guarantee and follow-up checks will be prohibitively expensive.

Wibbs

Just did a bit o' googling for you.


All about implants(some gore)

http://dentistry.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=dentistry&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oral-implant.com%2Fimplant_types.htm

Would this be option in your case?

http://dentistry.about.com/od/dentalimplants/gr/MDIimplant.htm

lomb

most of the implants on that link are thankfully consigned to history. only the root form implants have proven reliable. most of the others shown either fell out or had to be removed after a little while.

DArcy

Wibbs: If it's one of your front teeth a bridge would be ok (I have one)

Was that expensive to have done?? & in what circumstances will they put a bridge in? Say you had a gap between your front teeth...can they bridge that to make the gap smaller?

Wibbs

I can't remember the exact figure(long time ago) but it wasn't cheap. Dentists vary quite a bit on price. It's hard to shop around though, so maybe a trip to belfast may be the way to go. I gather that quite a few of them cater to southern types. They are a lot cheaper up there.

As for my own experience. I was missing the incisor just in front of the canine. The canine was capped and the new tooth attached to that.

From what I remember the dentist telling me, that style of bridge was more suited to the front teeth as the molars where subjected to greater stresses and a cap of that type wouldn't last as long.

With a gap between the two front teeth I think they can veneer the two teeth to widen them and reduce the gap.

Here's some stuff about bridgework
http://www.donaldsondental.com.au/crown.htm
http://www.aboutcosmeticdentistry.com/procedures/dental_bridges.html

lomb

bridges are fine when all teeth that the bridge is supported by are damaged by shallow multi surface fillings that dont stay in.
i dont think its a good idea to prepare a good tooth for full coverage unless u are getting on in the years. even a well done treatment will probably fail in 15 years snapping the tooth off with it, particularly if there are other teeth missing and alot of force is applied to the remaining teeth.