PROSTHESES

Dental prostheses are an artificial substitute for natural teeth. These may be applied in the case of partial or total edentulism (missing teeth) or to correct cosmetic defects in the shape, position and colour of teeth. In some cases it may be required to correct dysfunctional occlusion.

There are several different types of dentures:

• fixed prostheses - an artificial element, such as a bridge (involving more teeth) or crown (involving a single tooth), cemented to natural or artificial support pillars in order to restore the functionality of a tooth, a group of teeth or an entire dental arch. The fixed prosthesis, as opposed to a removable one, remains firmly in place once fitted by the dentist and does not need to be removed each day for normal oral hygiene. A crown prosthesis may be made from gold/ceramic, metal/ceramic or zirconium/ceramic.

• removable prostheses - A removable prosthesis (or “dentures”) is a device that the patient can, and should, remove from his/her mouth in order to clean it. Full ceramic dentures, with aesthetic clasps or invisible attacks. Temporary dentures for use after tooth extraction allow the patient, even after multiple extractions, to go home with teeth.

• combined prostheses - Combined prostheses are, as the name implies, a combination of closely linked fixed and partially removable prostheses.

• dental prostheses – These are built on dental implants. Again, they may be a bridge, a single crown or several linked crowns.