Denture Information & Consent Form

Whether this is your fifth set of dentures or first set, here is some important points to consider.

• Dentures are not as good as healthy, natural teeth for chewing food.
• Denture teeth are a different size and shape than normal teeth in order to increase chewing efficiency.
• Dentures depend on suction and muscle activity for their stability.
• Dental implants are the only method that insures a completely stable denture.
• Wearing dentures may become more difficult as you age so that new problems may appear with new dentures that you never had with any of the old dentures.
• As you age, bone loss from denture supporting areas of the mouth will make more conventional dentures more difficult to chew with and keep in your mouth.
• Changes in the muscle tone, gum thickness, coordination, as well as medications could adversely affect your ability to wear your dentures.
• A new denture will be shaped and look different than your old denture since there is constant change in the shape of your mouth. A new denture is shaped to fit your mouth as it is now. Your old dentures were made to fit a mouth that no longer exists.
• You may find it difficult to chew certain foods with dentures.
• A denture that was comfortable may not fit after illness or certain medical treatments such as chemotherapy.
• Many variables may affect partial dentures. These may include (1) natural teeth to which partial dentures are anchored (called abutment teeth) may become tender, sore and/or mobile;(2) abutment teeth may decay or erode around the clasps or attachments;(3) tissue supporting abutments teeth may fail.
• Due to the types of materials which are necessary in the construction of these appliances, breakage may occur even though the materials used were not defective. Factors which may contribute to breakages are (1) chewing on foods or objects which are excessively hard;(2) gum tissue shrinkage which causes excessive pressure to be exerted unevenly on the dentures;(3) cracks which may be unnoticeable and which occurred previously from causes such as those mentioned in (1) and (2); or the dentures having been dropped or damaged previously. The above may also cause excessive denture tooth wear or chipping.
• Full dentures normally become looser when there are changes in the supporting gum tissues. Denture themselves do not change unless subjected to extreme heat or dryness. When dentures become “loose”, relining the dentures may be necessary.
• Infrequently, the oral tissues may exhibit allergic symptoms to the materials used in construction of either partial dentures or full dentures over which we have no control.
• Natural teeth supporting a partial denture may fail due to decay, excessive trauma, gum tissue or bony tissue problems. This may necessitate extraction. The supporting soft tissues may fail due to many problems including poor dental or general health.