Orthodontic prostheses
Modern orthodontics has many methods of treatment to offer. Unfortunately, it is not always easy for patients to choose what form of treatment would be best for them. Various advertisements and fashionable reality shows on television confuse people even more by portraying unrealistic “beauty standards”. What the reality shows don’t show you is how the “extreme makeovers” will look after 5 years or so. Our clinic’s aim is to help patients select suitable treatment that they truly need, and to deliver the treatment with a high standard of quality. So that patients can understand the treatment offered, the first step is to create a treatment plan with comprehensible information about the stages of treatment, the time-frames, and the prices. Creating a treatment plan does take a certain amount of time, however it is worth investing this time. A treatment plan is like a blueprint for a skyscraper: a mistake at the foundations can have serious repercussions by the time the third storey is reached … Use of prostheses is usually the final step in the orthodontic treatment. Of course there may be times when temporary or protective prostheses are made for the patient at the beginning of the treatment or at another stage to help prepare the mouth and teeth for a permanent prosthesis.
The purpose of dental prostheses is to re-create the previous dental structure or the missing teeth themselves, thereby restoring ease of chewing, aesthetic appearance, and correcting speech defects due to missing teeth. Use of dental prostheses also ensures that the results achieved by the orthodontic treatment will be stable and long-lasting. Correctly and accurately made dental prostheses are practically no different from your own teeth. Types of dental prostheses: - non-removable - crowns and bridges
- removable - Partial dentures and plates.
Each patient and each situation is unique.
We pay the utmost attention to the aesthetics and durability of construction.
Non-removable prostheses:
Metal-ceramic These are composed of tooth-coloured ceramic material (porcelain) covering a metal frame, which gives the crown strength. The colour of the crown is set individually, using a special key code of ceramic colours that match natural tooth colours. Before a ceramic crown can be applied the patient’s tooth needs to be smoothed down to a certain shape. This is not a complicated or painful procedure; often the patient feels only slight vibration from the drill while it is in contact with the tooth. Ceramic prostheses without metal These restorations (prostheses) are noted for their very aesthetic appearance and their great brightness, but they are not as strong as metal-ceramic prostheses. Therefore patients are usually only offered this option for replacement of individual front teeth. Zirconium oxide and ceramic prostheses These are much stronger than ceramic prostheses without metal, and instead of having a dark metal frame, a strong white zirconium oxide frame is used. This assures a good appearance and a strong construction for the crown. This type of crown is used for the restoration of both lateral and front teeth. When there are several teeth missing or when the teeth left to support a prosthesis are weak, removable dental prosthetic constructions need to be used. However, there remains the alternative of dental implants. These allow crowns to be made in place of the missing teeth, often enabling other natural teeth to be saved. In the case of several missing teeth, missing peripheral teeth, or a complete absence of teeth in the mouth, dental implants may be used to anchor non-removable prosthetic constructions in place. Given that each patient and each situation is unique, and that the prosthetic constructions required in each case will be unique, each patient is well advised to come to the clinic for a personal consultation.
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