Sometimes fillings and dental repairs aren't enough. That's when a prosthodontist needs to step in. Prosthodontics reconstructs damaged or missing teeth to preserve both appearance and health.
Here you’ll find more information and specialists in prosthodontics.
What Is Prosthodontics?
Dental prosthetics make it possible to replace missing teeth and improve the appearance and function of existing teeth. This is also referred to as artificial dentures.
Types of Dental Prosthetics
In dentistry, a distinction is made between fixed and removable dental prostheses.
Removable Dental Prosthetics
Unlike fixed dental prostheses, removable dental prostheses are not anchored in the jaw or connected to other teeth. In technical terms, removable dental prostheses are also called dentures.
Specialists attach the prosthesis to implant abutments or to the natural teeth. The patient can remove the prosthesis for cleaning.
There are various types of removable dentures and several ways to anchor them in the jaw:
- Partial dentures: Specialists use partial dentures when not all teeth are missing. The most commonly used partial dentures are telescopic dentures, attachment-retained dentures, and cast-metal dentures.
- Full dentures: Specialists fit full dentures (also known as complete dentures) into an edentulous jaw. They are removable and usually replace an entire row of teeth. Full dentures are usually made of a pink-colored plastic. They rest directly on the jawbone. To ensure a good fit, subsequent adjustments are necessary, as the bone in the lower jaw typically resorbs when dentures are worn.
- The implant-supported denture: In the case of a removable implant-supported denture, implants made of titanium or ceramic additionally replace the tooth roots.
Fixed dentures
As the name suggests, fixed dentures remain permanently in the mouth. The patient cannot remove fixed dentures. They are attached to the natural teeth or anchored in the jawbone as dental implants.
Advantages of fixed dentures
With removable dentures, the underlying bone tissue typically deteriorates over time. As a result, dentures often do not fit optimally. The deterioration of the jawbone can also lead to sunken facial features.
Fixed dentures, on the other hand, stabilize the adjacent teeth. This creates the important opposing bite for the row of teeth in the opposite jaw.
Types of fixed dental restorations
Fixed dental restorations include crowns, bridges, inlays, and implant-supported prostheses:
- The Crown: If a filling is not possible for individual teeth, a crown can help. The crown replaces the missing parts of the tooth and encases the remaining portion of the tooth. In this way, the crown protects and stabilizes the tooth, holds the adjacent teeth in place, and establishes the necessary opposing bite.
A dental crown is an artificial replacement for a damaged tooth © dentalfoto | AdobeStock
- The Bridge: If there are already one or more gaps between teeth, the dentist can close these gaps with a bridge. In this procedure, the adjacent teeth become the outer abutments of the bridge. If they are natural teeth, they are ground down to accommodate crowns. A so-called bridge pontic is inserted between the crowns on the two bridge abutments.
- Implants: Specialists use implants as bridge abutments. This method completely preserves the natural tooth structure of the adjacent teeth.
A dental implant serves as the foundation for a firmly anchored artificial tooth replacement © labden | AdobeStock
- Dental Fillings and Inlays: An inlay is a custom-made dental filling that is placed inside the tooth to treat the effects of tooth decay and restore the resulting defect.
Materials Used for Fixed Dental Restorations
For dental crowns or bridges, the primary materials used are ceramics, composite resin, or metals such as gold, palladium, or titanium.
Plastic is a cost-effective alternative to ceramic and metal. However, due to its lack of durability, plastic is only suitable for temporary restorations or as a veneer.
Fixed dental restorations made of metal are the most stable and durable. However, those made of ceramic look more natural and are also more aesthetically pleasing.
In dental prosthetics, dentists and implantologists work closely with dental technicians. Through an automated workflow, the dental technician receives a precise set of data so that they can fabricate the dental prosthesis.
