• Understanding Dental Implants
• The ClearChoice Advantage
• How to Choose a Dentist
• Dentures vs Dental Implants
• Patient Information

Dentures vs Dental Implants

When it comes to deciding between getting fitted for a set of dentures or undergoing surgery for dental implants, there are five main categories to consider: comfort, health, durability, maintenance and cost.

Comfort

It’s no secret that wearing dentures is usually a pain—literally. They often slip, causing sore spots on the gums and roof of your mouth, and they can even cause arthritis of the jaw after several years of use. Most also report that because dentures stay in place with pastes or gels, they feel unnatural and leave the denture wearer insecure while speaking or eating in public for fear the dentures will lose suction and become loose.

Implants do not require any suction or adhesives, and they will never become loose, because they integrate with your jawbone to become a permanent part of your mouth. Furthermore, there is no pain associated with dental implants other than that of recovering from the implant surgery and placement of your final teeth.

Health

The most compelling argument for choosing dental implants over dentures is that they promote good health. While dentures cause loss of bone mass and gum tissue shrinkage, implants prevent both.
In addition, decay can occur with the use of dentures while implants have no risk of decay. So with implants, you don’t put any of your remaining natural teeth at risk.

Durability

Quality denture plates can last 10 to 15 years, but most dentists will recommend replacing them at least every 10 years. Implants, on the other hand, can last an entire lifetime.

As far as everyday durability, implants are strong and stable enough to act as your natural teeth; you can chew and speak as if you never had missing or failing teeth. Dentures require most patients to retrain themselves in both chewing and speech.

Maintenance

Dentures require extra cleaning each time they’re removed, which is at least once a day at bedtime, and adhesives to ensure suction while placed in the mouth. They also need adjustments often to maintain a good fit. Implants require nothing more than a normal set of teeth would demand, with no extra glues, cleaning supplies or fitting appointments.

Cost

A basic set of dentures will cost between $500 and $1,500 for either the upper or the lower arch. Implants can cost between $1,200 and $3,000 for each tooth, with replacement for an entire set of teeth costing between $30,000 and $50,000.

Comparatively, it is obviously less expensive to buy dentures and replace them every 10 years than it is to pay for implants even once, but most people testify that the comfort and health advantages of implants alone make them an important investment.