Teeth play a crucial role in appearance, maintaining facial structure, self esteem, clear speech, eating, and digestion. Teeth that are badly decayed, damaged by trauma, or compromised by advanced gum disease can actually be detrimental to your health. Having them extracted may improve oral health and overall wellness . . . but that doesn’t mean you want to go toothless for a month or more. Dr. Gordon Kent and The Smile Center team have a solution for patients in the Buffalo, NY area – immediate dentures.

The 411 on immediate dentures

The simple truth is that many patients have an alternative to the traditional process of having teeth extracted, healing for up to eight weeks, and a possible additional waiting period for dental implants to stabilize before getting dentures. Immediate dentures are fitted right after teeth have been extracted.

A few preliminary appointments are scheduled to create impressions and bite records, and to allow you to provide input for shade and overall appearance of your new smile. Then your temporary dentures are created at our in-house lab. They are called temporary only because they will probably be replaced eventually – they are durable and look very natural.

You are settled comfortably in the chair, and sedation is administered to ensure your wellbeing while teeth are extracted. Once teeth are removed and soft tissues are appropriately recontoured, immediate dentures are inserted. You wake with a full set of teeth!

Dr. Kent provides aftercare instructions to speed healing and make sure you are comfortable when you get home.

Then what?

Immediate dentures act as something of a band-aid, reducing bleeding and protecting soft tissues during healing. Most patients adapt quickly wearing immediate dentures; smiling, eating, speaking, and caring for them. As your mouth heals the dentures will loosen. You return for a follow up visit to have stitches (if there are any) removed, and Dr. Kent places a soft reline material in the dentures to maintain snug fit.

When healing and post-operative bone shrinkage is complete, usually in about six months, you may want to consider a final set of dentures, possibly supported by several dental implants. Some patients opt for a permanent reline of their temporary dentures instead.

There is much more information Dr. Kent would like to share with you on this topic. For now, all you really need to know about immediate dentures in Buffalo, NY is the number for The Smile Center – .