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Question:
Wanting Dentures? I'm a 23 year old female wondering about an upper denture. I have
very poor upper teeth.
I have had a few extracted and they are moving around and loose. Old fillings are developing severe decay around them. My teeth are a bluish-grey shade. I am having dental pain and severe sensitivity.
My dentist wants to do 11 crowns and root canals in my upper jaw (I only have 12 teeth up there!). The cost is approximately $30,000.00. I'm not willing to spend that much! He refuses to do an upper denture on me saying I'm too young.
My insurance bites too! Help! Can I get an upper denture and save the heartache and financial stress for years to come? ... Visitor from WI
Answer:
You are certainly young to receive an upper denture but that being said it sounds like your dentist is being unreasonable.
Certainly, ideal dentistry is to save everything possible but you also have to pay for it. So unless the dentist can recommend a free clinic, or he is willing to take on your case pro-bono, perhaps you can go to another dentist for a second opinion.
If you have a denture at a young age, you will lose bone, and have an issue with less ability to taste your food, tell if food is hot or cold, less proprioception (telling how hard you are biting a sandwich, etc.).
Dentures wear at your bone through years of the denture rubbing on your gum and underlying bone. Perhaps a compromise would be to preserve some teeth for root retained overdentures. This would be alot less expensive then crowns, preserve roots, hence better proprioception.
It would allow for a palate-less denture, hence taste and temperature sensation would be improved. Lastly, with roots left in the bone you preserve bone.
These are all things to discuss with your dentist. If they are unwilling to discuss
these options, find a prosthodontist or competent general dentist to discuss these issues.
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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