How Complete Dentures Make Your
Jaw Shrink
Many people don't understand the effect of
complete dentures on the jaw.
There is a natural reaction of the body when a tooth
is extracted. When a tooth is gone, the body perceives this and causes the
bone that had supported that tooth to be resorbed—dissolved away. The body
senses that this bone is no longer needed, and the calcium and phosphorous
are taken into the bloodstream and used other places in the body.
When all the lower teeth are extracted, then, the
body begins to absorb the lower jawbone, or mandible.
Over a period of twenty or thirty years, as this
dissolving of the bone goes on, the shrinking of the lower jaw can become
severe. This causes several problems:
 | As the bone becomes thin, it becomes difficult to
rest a complete denture on it. The denture will be unstable because it
has nothing to hang onto. |
|
| When the teeth are gone, the bone will develop a
sharp ridge. When a denture is rested on this ridge, it can easily
become sore. When jaw resorption is severe, it becomes very difficult to
make a comfortable denture that stays in place. |
| The risk of breaking this lower jaw can become
great, because it is so thin. |
| The jaw shrinking tends to give your face a
collapsed look. The distance between your nose and your chin gets
smaller and smaller, and your chin begins to look more pointed. To the
right is a famous drawing of an old man by Leonardo daVinci. This is the
typical collapsed face look of a person who has had no teeth for a long
time. |
|
the collapsed jaw |
One option for people who have had dentures for a
long time so that their jaw has shrunk is to get
soft dentures, with a soft liner that is
more comfortable. Another option is dental implants.
|
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