Benefits of Full & Partial Dentures

Over the years I’ve often told people that if you got a roomful of 100 dentists and asked them what procedure they hated doing the most, probably at least 98 of them would say dentures. In the past, I would have been one of those 98. The reasons you would hear would be, “Patients complain about dentures more than anything else we do,” “There are so many factors we have no control over,” and “You never know who’s going to be able to adapt to dentures and who won’t,” just to name a few.

I no longer am one of those 98. I had the great pleasure in March 2011 to spend a week with Dr. Jack Turbyfill at the Pankey Institute in Key Biscayne, Florida. Dr. Turbyfill has long had a reputation for doing the finest dentures of anyone in the world, and I can assure you it is a reputation well deserved. I and the other dentists in attendance were absolutely blown away at what we saw and learned as Dr. Turbyfill did a demonstration of his technique on a live patient that week.

As Dr. Turbyfill explained, the problem with dentures is that they have been taught the same way for the past 100 years, and the way they have been taught is highly flawed. In fact many of the problems we see with long-term denture wearers are a result of the flawed technique we were all taught. Dr. Turbyfill has developed a technique over the years that uses a “training denture,” which allows both the dentist and the patient to work out all the problems inherent with dentures right in the patient’s own mouth. The final dentures are never processed until the both the dentist and patient are happy with the appearance, function and comfort of the training denture. At that point, the training dentures are usually duplicated by the dental lab technician, and the new dentures are delivered to the patient, with the training dentures sometimes given to the patient as a “spare.” Because of all the meticulous work done in fabrication of the training dentures, 80% of the final dentures require no adjustments at all.

Dr. Turbyfill showed us case after case of patients who had been wearing his dentures for more than 20 years with no relines, and with no atrophy or resorption of the bony ridges under the dentures. This is unheard of in the typical denture situation. But when made properly, this type of success is indeed possible for most.

Is the new Turbyfill-technique denture going to be the answer for everyone? In a word, no. There will always be the occasional person who just cannot adapt to wearing dentures for whatever reason. But in the Turbyfill technique, these patients are few and far between, and can be identified during the training denture period.

I am proud to now be able to offer this denture technique in our office. If you or anyone you know needs dentures, or is a frustrated denture wearer, have them call us at 480-830-2273 to schedule a consultation appointment. It could be a life-changing decision for someone!