Before extracting the remaining teeth or root stumps for a denture, undertand that there are still better options even at the stage.

A good smile is all about gaining confidence and being socially presentable. A smile with missing teeth is unpleasant at any age.As age advances, wrinkles and folds on faces can be due to lost teeth and weaker facial muscles leading to features older than actual age. Irrespective of age and gender old aged apperance is not acceptable to most of the individuals.
It is not only a cosmetic correction but is being presentable in society and most importantly, regaining the chewing functions. Weaker chewing muscles and reduced digestive capacity along with weak or few teeth leads to ill health. Understand that the only things that can be retained or replaced among these are the teeth.

DENTURES: mostly a compromised treatment option.
It is a prosthetic rehabilitation of a patient with edentulous jaws ( no teeth in mouth) to bring back the function of shewing and to improve facial apperance.Dentures are not the ulimate solution when once has no or fewer teeth left in mouth . it is a compromised treatment solution with less esthetics and stability and chewing effeciency compared to fixed or semifixed options available in advanced dentistry.

Why are dentures unstable in many patients?

For many patients the gums and the underlying bones will be so thin and narrow that it will not be able to hold or support the denture.
In such cases the denture will move while talking, eating or while washing the mouth. For such instances the existing teeth or roots will be of great use in stabilizing the dentures.
Tongue will interfere with the lower denture while in speech causing unstability.
It can also be the fault of the dentist or the lab.

Note: Dentures can be made stable with high chewing efficiency and stability in a patient with good ridge to support denture.

Over Dentures:
It is a semi-fixed modified denture.
When few stable teeth or roots are remaining in mouth an Over Denture can be made without extracting those few teeth or roots.
Over Denture is a modified denture and it is more retentivem, stable with higher chewing effeciency than a conventional denture.

Do we need to extract remaining all teeth to place a denture?

Dental sciences have advanced so much that there is no need to remove the remaining teeth and roots to make a complete dentures, instead those teeth will help in retention and supports the denture.
To satisfy a patient with denture is one of the difficult challenges in dentistry. Stability and retention is difficult in many patients and they complaint that dentures move while speaking or chewing. To overcome this situation, we strictly retain all stable teeth and root stumps. These teeth and roots will help in holding and stabilizing dentures.

How is this over denture made without extracting existing teeth or roots?
PROCEDURES FOR AN OVER DENTURE:

The existing teeth will be altered to a smaller shape and an impression (mould) of mouth is taken and a denture is made in such a way that the existing teeth will be inside the denture and will not be seen outside.
Those natural teeth will act as stoppers from any unwanted movement of the dentures and also helps in retention of denture. If roots of teeth are present in mouth,then the roots are root canal treated and are fitted with attachements that holds the denture tightly in mouth.

Do we need to replace the dentures when the existing teeth or roots are removed in future?

The greatest advantage of an over – denture is that we don’t need to replace the existing dentures in almost all cases. The teeth can be extracted in future and the only thing that a dentist need to do is to close that space in the denture which takes a few minutes.

Different types of over-dentures:

1. Ball abutment over-dentures.
Tooth or roots are root canal treated and the portion of the teeth above the gum will be replaced by a ball attachment. A impression (mould) of the mouth is taken and a denture is prepared .The denture will fit into the ball attachment with a snap click. This is one of the best possible over-dentures with high success rate and patient comfort.

2. Coping over-denture:
In this treatment option a metal or ceramic cap / coping will be fixed on the teeth (root canal treatment is not necessary) .An impression (mould) of the
mouth is taken and a denture is made in such a way that the existing teeth
will be inside the denture and will not bee seen outside.

3. Teeth supported over denture:
In this type of treatment the teeth will be altered and root canal treatment is done if necessary. The teeth will be altered to accommodate the over-denture. The denture will be seated over the teeth which hold the denture tightly.

4. Implant supported over denture:
This treatment is done when the patient has no teeth or the existing teeth are not favorable to support a denture. In this situation implants are placed in the jaw. These implants will help to support the over-denture and helps in retention and stability of the denture. Usually implants with ball abutments, bar connectors or a combination of both will be used to support the over-denture. The number of implants to be used varies according to the situation. The only inconvenience with this treatment is that the patient will have to wait for 3 to 5 months for the implant to merge with the bone before placing an over- denture.