Denture Cosmetic Outcomes & Tooth Selection

The cosmetic quality of a denture significantly depends on tooth selection, laboratory processing, and esthetic adjustments. You can offer different levels of denture tooth options that vary in esthetics, function and case fee. These levels can include a premium and ultra premium range, with reliance on products such as Phonares from Ivoclar.

You can utilize tools that showcase different teeth lengths, mold sizes, and bold or soft forms. Age will factor into tooth selection as well. Even more importantly, we must consider why esthetics, occlusion, and function are explored through temporaries with a fixed full mouth rehabilitation, but removable constructions generally don’t involve this at all. I’m here to say that dentures are no different from a full mouth of ceramics in this sense.

Denture Tooth Selection and ‘Temporaries’

Neither the patient nor the dentist wants to go through multiple post-op adjustments on a completed denture. Having to search out sore spots is a real drag. Even worse, sometimes patients don’t find their final dentures attractive, despite approving them during the wax try-in visit.

Instead of going through this headache, figure out the kinks ahead of time by fabricating a diagnostic denture in addition to using a functional impression technique. This should precede final denture fabrication and enable you to tweak esthetics. Your patient can ‘try’ their smile before everyone commits to a set in stone result. Similarly, taking the time to recode the functional impression ensures you can truly understand their function. That way, you don’t have to go off of a single in-office impression.

Step by step processes and ideal tools will help you improve how predictable and profitable your work in dentures ends up being. A happy patient will market your practice far better than getting the denture made extremely fast.

What is your protocol for dentures? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!