The Real Cost of Dentures: Five Hidden Expenses You Never Knew Of! Part 1

This two-part article series presents five hidden expenses and repeated costs that patients opting for removable dentures may never have been aware of.

Qualified and experienced implant dentist, Dr. Wayne Brueggen, has seen it time and again: patients who are either already edentulous (not having a single original adult tooth left) or are facing an immediate future of edentulism opt for removable dentures over and above dental implants as a means for tooth replacement. And this is almost always because the former provides an immediately cheaper solution to tooth loss. But what you didn’t know about the cost of dentures is that its full extent is certainly not reflected by the bill you receive from your dentist! With time and over the years, as bone loss in the jaw advances unabated, the real cost of dentures - to your pocket and oral health - becomes apparent. And it is for these reasons that dental implants offer a far more sophisticated and comprehensive solution to multiple missing teeth and total tooth loss.

So, if you are considering a tooth replacement technology, perhaps it’s time you became aware of the real Cost dentures. Here are the five hidden expenses you never knew about.

1.    The Real Cost of Dentures: Adhesives

As a one-time purchase, adhesives, which are used to provide removable dentures with stability in the mouth, preventing them from slipping around, are far from prohibitively expensive. But they are a necessity. And as long as you wear false teeth, they always will be. As such, the cost of dentures really comes hand-in-hand with the repeated need for adhesive products. Add up the cost of adhesives over the years and even decades and you are looking at spending an exorbitant amount of money! Dental implants, which are placed permanently in the mouth, never require adhesives. So while this technology may come with a higher initial price tag, over the years, the money you save on the real cost of dentures actually evens out!

2.    The Real Cost of Dentures: Anesthetic Gels

Another product denture-wearers can’t live without is anesthetic gel, which constitutes another hidden and repeat expense for the cost of dentures. Unlike dental implants or your natural teeth, removable dentures rely upon the gums for support. As a result, whenever you eat, the forces associated with chewing and grinding are transmitted to this soft tissue and not the underlying jaw bone as is what should naturally occur. Speaking also causes dentures to shift and roll around in the mouth, rubbing against the gums and palate. This causes irritation, inflammation and the development of sores that are not permitted to heal. In fact, the pain caused by eating with dentures has been linked with malnutrition in the elderly! Anesthetic gels provide some respite from this pain, but this repeat expense is yet another addition to the real cost of dentures.

The Cost of Dentures: Stay Tuned…

To find out more about the real cost of dentures and all those hidden expenses you are likely to pay, stay tuned for the final installment of this two-part article series, courtesy of qualified and experienced implant dentist, Dr. Wayne Brueggen.