Baby Boomers: Your New Denture Is A Facelift

Teeth vs Denture

People with their natural teeth have all the esthetic advantages over denture patients.  Their jaws are fully developed and their back teeth maintain the height of their bite, therefore keeping the height of the lower third of their face in proportion with their midface and forehead.  Their front teeth supply the lips and corners of their mouth with support.

Bone Loss

When you lose your teeth, all that changes.  The removal of teeth results in loss of half of the bone that supported them in two years or less!  Patients say their gums shrink, but it is really the bone underneath their gums that is receding.  The upper jawbone shrinks up and back, and the front teeth of an upper denture move in the same direction, causing loss of lip support, deteriorating muscle tone and more wrinkles.  The lower jawbone shrinks down and back, and the lower front teeth recede accordingly.  The upper and especially the lower jaws in the back shrink also, and the height of the bite of the dentures becomes "closed."  All of these changes create that characteristic "denture look"--one of facial collapse.  For the denture wearer, looking in the mirror daily, it isn't as noticeable (like watching your hair go gray), but the changes are dramatic and can best be seen in photographs over time.

If this has happened to you, then you are ready for your facelift with a new set of dentures.  A new set of dentures will recapture the height of your bite, place the front teeth where the natural ones used to be in order to reestablish lip and cheek support, eliminate wrinkles. and make the lower third of your face more in proportion with the rest of your face.  The new set of dentures is what makes those looking at you unable to know you wear dentures!

We love to do create new, younger looks for our denture patients!

Robert G. Tupac, DDS, FACP, Inc., Diplomate, American Board of Prosthodontics (661) 325-1275 | www.drtupac.com 5060 California Ave., #170, Bakersfield, CA 93309