Decision Time!

[Snowy]

I do not really know what to do. I have recently had to have a premolar extracted as it was vertically fractured down to the root. Unfortunately this has left me with few teeth on my bottom left jaw. I have all my other teeth, apart from Wisdom teeth. As I only had this last tooth out about 10 days ago, am not used to feeling so gappy. My dentist has suggested 2 implants but as I am retired, i just can't afford to do this. The other option is a partial denture. I have heard that lower dentures are notoriously difficult to use and a lot of people just do not use them. I am loathe to spend a €1,000 on these, and then cannot use them. Why have other people done in these circumstances? Does a lower partial make you gag? Could I just carry on using the other side of my mouth for chewing? Really could use some advice.

 

[gamergirl123]

I do not really know what to do. I have recently had to have a premolar extracted as it was vertically fractured down to the root. Unfortunately this has left me with few teeth on my bottom left jaw. I have all my other teeth, apart from Wisdom teeth. As I only had this last tooth out about 10 days ago, am not used to feeling so gappy. My dentist has suggested 2 implants but as I am retired, i just can't afford to do this. The other option is a partial denture. I have heard that lower dentures are notoriously difficult to use and a lot of people just do not use them. I am loathe to spend a €1,000 on these, and then cannot use them. Why have other people done in these circumstances? Does a lower partial make you gag? Could I just carry on using the other side of my mouth for chewing? Really could use some advice.

partials are a hit or miss pending the person. For me, i can't chew with them and im having problems but for others, the partials function wonderfully. However, if you'd be able to get the money together, you should see if there's an option for "flexible dentures" which i heard look, feel, and function a lot better then traditional partials made of acrylic and wire.

I have traditional upper and lower partials. I can't chew that much w/ them very well in my case. For me, it's more of a problem of that there's only one tooth out of four "molars" that's still kind of intact on the lower partial, 1 that's about 75% there, one that's bascially flush w/ the acrylic "gums" and the last one is only a little sliver of "tooth" left. safe bet if the "teeth" were intact, i could eat w/ them.

I should go in to see if anything can be done, especially since my 1 year warranty expires in like 2 weeks, but i don't care anymore. I just choose to chow down w/o the things in.

 

[Snowy]

Thanks for your reply. Do your gums harden in time? I am only only 11 days post extraction, so still avoiding that side of my mouth. Have not had two back molars for at least 30 years, and now this one at age 63. Have all my other teeth left top, in front and the right side. How long until you can eat on gums?

 

[gamergirl123]

Thanks for your reply. Do your gums harden in time? I am only only 11 days post extraction, so still avoiding that side of my mouth. Have not had two back molars for at least 30 years, and now this one at age 63. Have all my other teeth left top, in front and the right side. How long until you can eat on gums
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the first time i can be certain i tried chewing w/o my partials in and not just swallowing pureed/mushed up stuff was mid may. About 1 week out from the 7 lower extractions and 2 weeks from the 7 upper extractions. That was when i had to have molds made for new partials since there was a problem w/ my lowers(they were mis-molded so they were a bit crooked). After having to have new molds made, my gums had swollen a bit so my partials couldn't fit right for a few days.

We had taken off to the casino a couple hours away to get away for a couple days and we had gotten sonic for dinner. Mom chopped up my chili cheese dog and fries really well(she took a knife and chopping board from home) and that was my first attempt at chewing a little bit. I didn't do a lot of chewing since i was still sore but i tried. Probably about another week or so b4 i tried chewing noodles w/ hot dog chunks.

That might of marked the start of when i began preferring to eat w/o them in. I can't say for sure since i mainly used/use my journal over on the journal thread for venting and keeping track of when i do my partial wear sessions. Didn't think about keeping track of things like when i first started preferring to eat w/o them in.

 

[ScaredyCat22]

I do not really know what to do. I have recently had to have a premolar extracted as it was vertically fractured down to the root. Unfortunately this has left me with few teeth on my bottom left jaw. I have all my other teeth, apart from Wisdom teeth. As I only had this last tooth out about 10 days ago, am not used to feeling so gappy. My dentist has suggested 2 implants but as I am retired, i just can't afford to do this. The other option is a partial denture. I have heard that lower dentures are notoriously difficult to use and a lot of people just do not use them. I am loathe to spend a €1,000 on these, and then cannot use them. Why have other people done in these circumstances? Does a lower partial make you gag? Could I just carry on using the other side of my mouth for chewing? Really could use some advice.

Hi Snowy, I had to have my lower left first molar extracted because of a vertical root fracture. That leaves a much larger gap than a premolar believe me!
I could not chew there at all until about 3 weeks past extraction time. even when the hole closed in it was tender and would bleed easily if I chewed there. I can chew there now but of course it doesn't accomplish much since there is nothing to chew with. I am in my 40s and can not afford and do not want an implant. I am considering a bridge but since dentists just want to push implants I do not know if I will be able to get one or not. So far I have been fine with just chewing on the other side. I have not really chewed anything of substance on the other side for 6 months now and I would not mind doing that the rest of my life but my worry is that if something happens to the other side and I lose the ability to chew there too then I will be in trouble.

 

[gamergirl123]

Forgot to put something in my last message. Not sure if it makes a big difference in the healing time frame I gave or not but i'm much younger then a lot of people that get partial dentures. I was only 25 when I got them.

 

[ScaredyCat22]

I saw my dentist yesterday and decided for my gap we will go with a bridge. I am a little confused about your post so I am not sure if that is an option for you because it seemed like you only have one tooth missing when you said "I have all my other teeth, apart from Wisdom teeth" but then you also said "Unfortunately this has left me with few teeth on my bottom left jaw"

 

[Snowy]

Thanks for all your replies. Sorry for the confusion. On lower left jaw I never had a wisdom tooth on this side, had back molar out in my 20's and premolar just extracted due to fracture. So no double teeth on that bottom left side. Have all other teeth on top left and top and bottom on right jaw. I cannot afford implants that my dentist is pushing and having researched the use of a partial lower denture, it would appear these are just too difficult to eat with. I am a professional vocalist and I have heard from other singers that partial lowers really do not work!
i was just trying to find out if anyone else had not replaced teeth and were able to cope okay.