What Is An Immediate Denture?

An immediate denture is one that is inserted in the mouth immediately after the surgical removal of natural teeth. Immediate dentures have the following advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages:

In addition to allowing you to avoid going without teeth for an extended period of time, your immediate dentures will:

• function as a band-aid to protect your tissues and control bleeding and swelling
  
  
• allow you to establish normal speech patterns early
  
  
• enable you to chew better than without teeth
  
  
• minimize any facial distortion
  
  
• help to maintain your ridges and avoid excessive loss of these bone structures
  
  
• allow for easier duplication of your natural teeth and inter-jaw relations
  
  
• prevent you from over-closing and causing excessive trauma to your TMJ (temporomandibular joint)

Disadvantages:

• You won’t be able to preview the appearance of your dentures. The aesthetic effect cannot be evaluated until after your teeth have been extracted and your dentures have been inserted.
  
  
• The initial fit will not be as accurate as it will be after you have had your first tissue conditioning and final denture reline.
  
  
• More office visits will be required because your ridges and tissues are in a state of change.
  
  
• Immediate dentures are more expensive overall, when the follow-up adjustments, tissue conditionings and eventual relines are taken into account.

Caring for your immediate dentures:

• An appointment should be made to visit your denturist the day following your extractions. For the first two days after surgery, do not remove your immediate dentures for longer than five minutes. Use that time to clean and rinse your dentures.
  
  
• As your oral tissues begin to heal, they will recede (shrink). Your gums will recede quicker in the first month after you have had extractions than they will in subsequent months. Tissue change will be less and less over time; as changes occur, you may periodically require adjustments to your dentures.
  
  
• To maintain comfort and a snug fit, tissue conditioning may be done at gradually decreasing intervals. Nine months to one year following your extractions, you will receive your permanent relines, thereby completing the “immediate denture cycle”.

NOTE:

• During the early post-operative phase, your gums will not be completely healed and you will have open sites where blood may be present. Please wash your hands thoroughly before you handle your immediate dentures. Establishing a habit of hand washing before handling your dentures will benefit you in the long term.
  
  
• For the first month after you receive your immediate dentures, you may wish to add to your diet a nutritional supplement, such as Ensure, to maintain your weight.