Paul talks about Preparing for Dentures

What should a patient do before they come in for the extraction?

Patients are going to, if it’s their first denture… they’re going to be pretty apprehensive and we would like to think that by the time they leave they’re quite satisfied.

I think that most patients are happy when they know that they’ve seen what the dentures are going to look like prior to them being made, because when you have your teeth taken out, often you don’t know what the teeth are going to look like when they go in. But with certain techniques you can ensure that the patient knows exactly what they are going to be given.

And then I think the patient’s pretty happy about coming along... and in some ways ensure my patients are looking forward to having a new denture because there can often be that there is something that they don’t like about their teeth and they’re quite happy to lose that gap at the front… so by the time we get to finishing the dentures, and we have got them looking exactly like their old teeth, then they’ve mentioned “Oh can I have that little space closed up a bit more because I never really did like that”, so there’s obviously little things that can be made to improve things.

What advice would you give to a patient prior to fitting?

To look on the internet because there’s lots of information there, but also the best way is to discuss it with friends, sometimes family and people they can confide in that they’d like to talk about it to. If they’ve never worn a denture it’s often better to talk to someone that has worn a denture before. They can get some good information to put them at ease. A denture can look completely natural, like a natural set of teeth, so you just wouldn't be able to tell, that’s how real a denture can look.