What are partial dentures?

A partial denture is a removable prosthesis that snaps down on top of some of your remaining good teeth, which means you must have some solid teeth left.  These solid teeth will be the anchor for the new partial and it will be important that you take care of these teeth in the future so that your partial can still attach to them.  We traditionally make partial dentures with a chromium cobalt metal base framework with acrylic teeth paced on top. Newer materials have come out that allow for metal free partial dentures now; simply just scroll down to find out more about metal free partial dentures.

Partials are excellent for both upper and lower jaws.  Dentists will often work very hard to save a few teeth on the bottom or insist that you get some dental implants, as lower full dentures are pretty uncomfortable for most people.  It is pretty rare to find someone that likes a lower full denture, but lower partial dentures tend to be just fine. To check out design options for a partial denture you can click the link.

Partial dentures cost

Partial dentures cost around $2,500 per jaw for the metal version.  A little more for one that is placed the day the teeth are removed.   This is rarely done with partial dentures, though. Non-metal ones can be cheaper.

What if you do not have enough teeth left for a partial denture? What about an implant assisted partial denture?

If you do not have enough solid teeth left to support a partial denture then you have 2 choices. You will either go with a full denture or you will get an implant assisted partial denture. A full denture means that we will take out all remaining teeth on that jaw. For an implant assisted partial denture we will add 1-4 dental implants, but usually just 1-2. The partial denture will then snap onto the dental implant(s) that we place.

Metal free partial dentures are available.

Chromium cobalt is the metal that we use for almost all partial frameworks.  There are several newer products on the market especially for digital design that are metal free.. Ultaire AKP is a high strength polymer that can replace the metal.  Ultaire AKP is made by Solvay dental 360. Pekkton is another material that can replace metal frameworks but is more common for implant framework cases. Another material that the lab mills partial frameworks for are Zirlux Acetal, which also comes in pink.

Another category of metal free partial dentures are the partials that lack a framework. DuraFlex, Valplast and tcs flexible partials are the most common example and my personal favorite is Duraflex. ReSure Transparent partials are another option. They utilize polyamide microcrystalline technology. Some metal free partial dentures can be  seen below. Ottawa dental lab provides all the types of partials that I like. To read more on metal free partial dentures click the link.

Maintenance costs of partial dentures

Partial dentures will need a reline as you will continue to lose bone under the denture.  Ideally you will have this done every 5 years but people rarely do.  This usually costs around $200 to $400.

Partial dentures can break and sometimes, but not always, we can repair them for a few hundred dollars.  Denture teeth can break off and the cost to repair is also a few hundred dollars.

Denture teeth wear down and sometimes we can replace all the worn teeth. However, this is not a very predictable thing to do, because the teeth opposing the partial denture have adapted to the worn shape. This makes it nearly impossible to fix without fixing the opposing teeth as well.

You can lose more teeth, which a dentist can add to the partial denture for a few hundred dollars.  If you lose an important tooth that the partial is relying on then you may need to transfer to a full denture (costs seen below).

Can a partial denture go through a metal detector at the airport?

Yes.  There will be no problem with a metal partial staying in your mouth and going through a metal detector anywhere.  If you have a MRI they will take it out though.

Will I have a metal taste in my mouth from a partial denture?

No.  If anything you might have more of an acrylic taste.