Can You Have Top Dentures Without the Palate?

Accidents and tooth decay can lead to your dentist removing some of the affected teeth. This is essential as it can help save the remaining healthy teeth. The good news is that dentures can be used as a replacement for missing teeth and surrounding tissues. Our dentist near you can recommend two types of dentures. They are complete and partial dentures.

Although there are a lot of benefits of having dentures, some patients find dentures uncomfortable with the entire palate in place as it makes it challenging to taste and chew food well. Luckily, there are palate-less dentures, and let’s dive and look at these dentures.

What Are Palate-Less Dentures?

Traditional dentures have brought forth lots of discomforts associated with the soft palate that comes with these traditional dentures.

Thanks to modern dentistry, upper dentures are now made without the palate, also known as palateless dentures or horseshoe dentures. This type of denture is made for patients who do not have all their upper teeth. Palateless dentures can be used with overdentures, removable restoration, and dental implants.

Here are the types of palateless dentures that can your dentist can fix.

First, there are functionally impressed dentures. This type of dentures fit better and feel more snugly than traditional ones.

Another type is precision-attached dentures. As the name indicates, these dentures are combined with a milled titanium bar to ensure they are attached well to your dental implants or natural teeth.

Soft-lined dentures are customized with soft reline material. This type of denture is recommended for patients who have significant jaw atrophy. They are more comfortable and stable than traditional hard dentures.

What Is The Procedure Of Getting Palateless Dentures?

The procedure of getting horseshoe dentures is relatively similar to traditional dentures. First, the dentist takes impressions of your lower and upper arch. This is important as it ensures the dentures fit correctly in your mouth and does not affect your bite.

The next step will be the dentist positioning the dental implants into the jawbone and giving it time to heal.

The fusing period between the dental implants and the jawbone will take three to four months. The fusing period is important as this ensures your jawbone provides a solid anchor for your palateless dentures. Before the dentures fuse well into your jawbone, your dentist will install temporary dentures in the meantime.

Additional impressions of your upper and lower arch are taken to ensure no additional changes have occurred in your mouth. Taking additional impressions is important as it ensures the final palateless dentures fit well in your mouth.

When the final palateless dentures are made, you are notified so the dentist can fix them onto the dental implants. The final process involves the dentist checking your bite, comfort, and appearance. If there are any issues, the dentist will fix them before leaving.

What Are the Benefits of Palateless Dentures?

Now that we know the procedure of getting palate-less dentures, it is vital to know the benefits of dentures without a palette.

First, people with severe gag reflexes can benefit from this denture. With traditional dentures, the palate can make it difficult for patients with severe gag reflexes to enjoy life, as the palate can make them feel nauseated as the palate touches the roof of their mouth. Palate-less dentures remove this problem and make it easy for you to enjoy eating without feeling nauseated.

Another benefit of horseshoe dentures is improving your experience when eating food. The palate in traditional dentures makes it challenging for you to get the full taste of food, but you can enjoy your food better with the palateless variation.

On top of that, palateless dentures are more comfortable than traditional dentures. This is because no palate touching the roof of your mouth makes it more comfortable.

Besides that, this type of denture is more secure and has a more natural feeling to your natural teeth. This is because your natural teeth do not have a palate, which is the same as palateless dentures.

Do not let traditional dentures dampen your mood. Instead, head to Julian Center for Comprehensive Dentistry, and our dentists will install palate-less dentures to revitalize your mood and smile.