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Question:
Bone Loss and Shrinking Mouth: I have been told I do not have enough bone to support an implant post.
My lowers do not stay in place at all. Is there some other way to deal with this? I was told even new dentures will not stay if there is nothing to grasp on to.
Second, I am starting to look shrunken in the mouth area. Will the denture help lift the area? It is almost like I am not wearing dentures. ... Visitor from FL
Answer:
Bone loss accelerates when teeth are removed and often can result in loss of 60% or more of residual bone after 5 years with a concomitant loss of chewing ability.
Lower complete dentures can move up to 3/4 of an inch during chewing so the sunken in
appearance of your face and the inability to keep dentures in place are major problems for people that have lost their teeth.
When enough bone doesn't exist, grafting needs to be done to augment bone that is deficient.
This can be done in various ways from using a persons chin to hip grafts to cadeveric bone grafting or a combination of the above to create the bone necessary for implants. Implants can be done in the bone as endosteal root form implants or over the bone called sub-periosteal implants.
Your dentist should examine these options with you and if they are not able to help you with these choices, you can seek a second opinion from a dentist that does a lot of implant dentistry.
Organizations that provide information on implant dentistry and grafting include the American Academy of Implant Dentistry www.aaid.com or the International Congress of Oral Implantology or www.ICOI.org
Wisconsin Reconstructive Implant Dentistry
Richard Winter, DDS MAGD
Winter Dental Associates
5323 W. Hampton Avenue
Milwaukee Wisconsin WI 53218
(414) 464-9021
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