Should I pull my teeth and get dentures vs implants? I am only 38 years old. I cannot afford multiple implants.

Question

I do love my straight teeth (braces) but I am a clincher, I do wear a mouthpiece at night, however I find myself clenching my jaws during the day as well. All teeth have major stress fractures I have many crowns already with 3 prior root canals, one was completed 1yr ago and it is decaying under crown. #4 on right side is cracked to the root in 3 pieces. Would it be cheaper to just pull all teeth and get dentures? I can not afford multiple implants; since certainly there will be more.

Ira Shapira, DDS · Answer

Almost never good to amputate parts of your body.  Keep the teeth and enjoy eating and talking normally.There are nightmare stories where patients have replaces teeth with implants for no reason.

Gary Braunstein, DDS · Answer

Do not have all your teeth pulled!  You are too young and will be sorry in the long run if you become a denture wearer at your age.  Have your existing teeth fixed if possible, replace missing teeth with single implants or fixed bridges, get a night guard to protect your teeth from grinding or bruxism, and see your dentist every 3 or 4 months for check ups and maintainence cleanings to catch problems early and avoid further costly major dental treatment.

Michael J. Solly, DDS · Answer

Lets examine your risk factors.

It appears that you are decay prone as noted by your need for several root canals and multiple crowns. You have new decay under a recent crown.

You are a clencher in the day time and night time. The clenching is strong enough to break teeth.  All of this has occurred at a relatively young age.

Implants do not tolerate lateral forces as well as natural teeth so even implants are in jeopardy in this environment.  Dentures will allow better force distribution and allow for less feedback from your muscles and will likely lessen the strength of the clenching.

Oddly you made no reference to attempting to reduce the forces that are causing the breakage. It seems that force management is the first order of business if you plan to keep your teeth or get implants.

Night guards help at night. What about the rest of the day.  You should consider 2 mitigating options.

DTR or disclusion time reduction with the T-Scan to reduce forces on your back teeth.

Botox on the masseter muscle to reduce its strength. This is your main closer or clencher muscle.

It will be cheaper to have dentures constructed .  The down side of that is loss of bone mass in your jaws and a 90 per cent loss of chewing efficiency .  You health will be affected from a nutritional standpoint because your diet will change to a softer more processed group of foods. Your will never enjoy the texture or temperature of foods the same way.

Have you considered the cost of saving money?  Emotional physical psychological?

Should I pull my teeth and get dentures vs implants? I am only 38 years old. I cannot afford multiple implants.

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Should I pull my teeth and get dentures vs implants? I am only 38 years old. I cannot afford multiple implants.

Answers (3)

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Everything you need to know about Dental Implants

Our mission is to create a world where every investment in modern beauty is Worth It.