What are the advantages and disadvantages of fixed dentures

Three meals a day are the most important things in our daily life, but if there is a problem with the teeth, it will seriously affect our absorption of food nutrients, and will also increase the burden on the stomach and intestines. Bad teeth will also cause us a certain amount of pain. Sometimes after pulling out the teeth, we need to install dentures to alleviate dental problems. Among them, fixed dentures are closer to real teeth and many people will choose them. Let's learn about the advantages and disadvantages of fixed dentures.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of fixed dentures?

Fixed dentures have both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of fixed dentures include:

1) High chewing efficiency. Fixed dentures are bonded to the adjacent teeth on both sides and have the support of the adjacent teeth on both sides, so the chewing efficiency is higher.

2) Comfortable. Fixed dentures do not have the base and clasps (hooks) of removable dentures, so they are more comfortable and there is no foreign body sensation.

3) Beautiful. Because there are no metal clasps, fixed dentures will be more beautiful as long as porcelain or all-ceramic materials are used.

Disadvantages of fixed dentures include:

1) Grinding away more healthy teeth. Fixed denture restoration requires making full crowns on the adjacent teeth on both sides, and a lot of tooth tissue is removed. Especially when the adjacent teeth on both sides are healthy teeth with pulp (dental nerves), the damage to the adjacent teeth on both sides is very regrettable. Although the appearance was finally restored with an artificial crown, the integrity of the tooth was destroyed after all.

2) Multiple teeth connected together. Fixed denture restoration is like building a bridge, where the piers and the bridge deck are connected together. Especially when multiple teeth are missing, the fixed denture will be very long, with many teeth connected together. The disadvantages of having multiple teeth connected together are:

① As long as there is a problem with one tooth, the entire tooth needs to be removed for repair. The more teeth are connected, the more difficult it is to remove and the greater the loss.

② It is not easy to detect a loose crown or tooth because other teeth are not loose and the fixed dentures glued together will not be loose either. If one end of a fixed denture is loose, it will tend to swing and sink, and the other end will be subjected to a large lever force. It will not be discovered until other teeth are loose. At this point the problem is already very serious and these loose teeth may have to be extracted, so that the original one missing tooth becomes three or even more missing teeth.

③Multiple teeth are connected together and cannot be cleaned with dental floss, so there will be blind spots in some places.

④ Multiple teeth connected together are not as beautiful as individual teeth, especially for the front teeth.

3) Food may be trapped under the bridge. Initially, the bridge is lightly attached to the alveolar mucosa, but as time goes by, the alveolar ridge shrinks and a small gap appears between the bridge and the alveolar mucosa, allowing food to be trapped. It is not easy to clean and there is an odor.

4) Increase the burden on adjacent teeth. Fixed dentures are completely bonded to the adjacent teeth on both sides. The burden of missing teeth is completely shared by the adjacent teeth on both sides. That is, the work of three people is done by two people, and the burden on the adjacent teeth is significantly increased.

5) Not suitable for multiple tooth loss or last tooth loss. Since fixed dentures increase the burden on adjacent teeth, it is not suitable to perform fixed denture restoration when there are many missing teeth and few remaining teeth. If denture restoration is performed reluctantly in this situation, the burden on the remaining teeth will increase too much, exceeding their bearing capacity, which will cause these teeth to loosen and fall off. Finally, if a tooth is missing and a fixed denture is used to repair it, there will only be a bridge pier on one side, and one side of the bridge pier is a long cantilever. Due to the effect of the lever, the bridge pier will be subjected to a lot of torque, and it will easily loosen and fall off, and finally the missing tooth will turn into two missing teeth.

The above is an introduction to the advantages and disadvantages of fixed dentures. After understanding, we know that fixed dentures have many advantages, but we must pay attention to maintaining good oral hygiene after wearing dentures, and we must also be careful not to eat hard and sticky foods.