Dental prosthetics
Prosthetics – replacement of missing teeth.
By replacing all of the missing teeth in a timely manner it improves the prospects of all teeth. Each tooth has its own function. If one is missing, others are overloaded - tooth decay, bone deformity, biting muscle atrophy and congestion of the maxillary joints may develop. This then can lead to inflammation of the joints, wear and tear on the cartilage of the joints and pain while eating or opening and closing the mouth.
The best thing you can do is replace the missing tooth or teeth with a crown on the implant or implants. Replacing the tooth with an implant-based crown will give you a comfortable feeling and completely restored tooth function. The function of the other teeth will not be disturbed.
If you choose dental bridges the teeth become more loaded, their strength decreases, and over the years a bone loss can develop next to the bridge supported teeth.
If you use removable dentures, you must take into account the discomfort – it is an artificial item in the mouth. This is followed by speech problems and a difficulty to chew.
When the implant is inserted into the bone, the bone is maintained in the same volume, whereas if you use removable dentures, they strain the bone and reduce the volume of the bone. Thus, it is important to consider the possibility of implantation timely, because the bone volume will shrink with years and the possibility of a successful implantation will decrease.
If the bone loss has occurred, it can be restored surgically. After this procedure the implantation is possible.
If, for example, three teeth are lost, it is possible to place two implants and build a bridge on them with crowns, which will replace the three teeth.
Before starting the process of prosthetics a treatment plan needs to be made therefore the consultation is a must.
Dental prosthetics
Once the tooth is badly damaged, or the biggest part of the tooth is broken off, or the seal is so big that it no longer meets the masticatory load, the tooth needs to be restored with an assistance of a crown so that it can function and look properly.
Fully restored teeth rows prevent teeth from shifting and your dental occlusion from deformation. If in long term you are missing one or more than one tooth, the remaining teeth are taking on a bigger increased load and they may change their location – drift, as well as teeth can start to wear down faster.
If you are missing a couple of side teeth, the front teeth are taking on a bigger increased load, and they are not meant for such loads. The front-teeth main mission is biting, because they only have one facet. As a result, because of the increased load the front-teeth are wearing down a lot faster, as well as they are slowly sliding foreword, or in other words popping out, which might cause bone loss and inflammation – periodontitis (also called parodontosis). To avoid such complications, we advise to replace the missing teeth (with the exception of the 8thteeth). We can achieve this with crowns, bridge dental prosthesis, removable prosthesis or implants.
Bridge prosthesis
It is called Bridge prosthesis because of the crowns that are related among themselves, and between these crowns there are artificially created teeth. Just like crowns, they are built on teeth and looking from a side you can’t tell the difference, they look just like natural teeth.
Example:
Zirconium crowns
Ceramic crowns are created on zirconium oxide frame. Zirconium has a much higher durability than metal and it has pseudoelasticity – self-healing effect. In terms of aesthetics these crowns hold the highest results. The white frame provides a completely natural tooth impression. (All of these are zirconium crowns)
Example:
Metal-free ceramic crowns
Very thin, aesthetically high quality pressed ceramic crowns. These are not recommended for the bridge prosthetics with several parts. During the preparation period of the crown, the teeth can be restored with a temporary plastic crown.
Dentures on implants
This type of dental prosthetics is more frequently used on total teeth loss. In cases when all teeth are lost, denture fixation is greatly enhanced by the inclusion of implant prosthetics.
By using these fixed prosthetics on implants, the person can feel comfortably talking, smiling and even eating. The patient can forget about the worries that usually come with removable dentures. We make crowns on implants from zirconium.
Vairāk informācijas lasi mūsu rakstā “Apgāžam mītus par zobu implantiem!”
Inlays
Individually designed solid-metal alloy pin, which is based in the tooth’s channel. Thanks to this method it is possible to restore the tooth’s root. Later on a zirconium crown is based on the inlay.
Removable dentures on implants
This type of dental prosthetics is more frequently used on total teeth loss. In cases when all teeth are lost, denture fixation is greatly enhanced by the inclusion of implant prosthetics.
In this way it is possible to achieve the results that are equivalent to not removable dental prosthetic fixation. By using these fixed prosthetics on implants, the person can feel comfortably talking, smiling and even eating. The patient can forget about the worries that usually come with removable dentures.
Veneers
Veneers are wafer-thin porcelain shells which are being glued to the front surface of the teeth with a very durable cement. With their help it’s possible to change the shape, width, position and color of the teeth. It’s also possible to achieve and improve the aesthetic appearance of the smile. Most commonly the veneers are used for the frontal teeth (the ‘smile zone’).
The condition of the natural shape of all teeth is crucial for veneers to last. In case the teeth are worn off it’s necessary to restore the wear of the lateral teeth (not to overload the incisors).
In case of increased load (trauma, teeth grinding) veneers may fall off.
The height recovery of worn teeth
In cases when teeth are worn down the height of the lower third of the face drastically changes and it can be seen even without opening your mouth.
The groove in the chin beneath the lips becomes deeper, lip corners tend to slide downwards, grooves from the nose to the lip corners become deeper, and as a result, the face looks older. But most importantly in the case of worn down teeth, the face-jaw joint suffers the most. The joint should take that much pressure, it’s overloaded, because it moves in wrong angles. The fallowing changes might be possible in the joint: cartilage deterioration that is accompanied with snapping noise when opening mouth very wide; inflammation, characterized by joint pain; headaches and masticatory muscle pain.
