If you’ve only lost one or more natural teeth or had them extracted, and your Existing Partial Denture is still in good shape, you may not need a new denture at all: we can do an Add-On—add teeth onto your existing partial denture, matching as close as possible the shade (colour) of the rest of the artificial teeth in your denture, and your natural teeth, and replace or add on clasps if necessary. Additions of teeth to your partial denture can be done whether it is an Acrylic Partial Denture or a Cast Metal Partial Denture: it just may take a little longer if it’s cast metal because that may need to be sent to a special lab that has the proper casting equipment (it usually comes back next day, but may take longer if they are busy). All the other work of adding one or more teeth onto a cast partial can be done by your denturist in our on-site lab. And all the work to add onto an acrylic partial is done in-house.
Note that an add-on requires an appointment.
Services
Additions to Your Partial Dentures
An Example: In this case, the patient has lost another natural tooth and therefore needs an Addition made to their existing Upper Acrylic Partial Denture. We can see in this photo that a new artificial tooth with a shade matching the other teeth has been set aside at the top, with one of the clasps broken off to indicate that is where the tooth will be added onto the partial. A new clasp will then be positioned lower down in the photo to wrap around a natural molar even further back in the patient’s mouth.
There are 2 cases with Additions:
1) The natural tooth or teeth are already out of your mouth by their falling out or you have already had them extracted by your dentist. Give us a call to book your Add-On.
2) You haven’t yet had your extraction(s): In this case, we recommend you call us first, before you have the extractions, to book an appointment with us for your denturist to examine your mouth and existing partial denture before proceeding.
The actual add-on will involve taking new Impressions of your mouth, and then based on these, change your existing partial denture to add on the needed additional teeth and, if necessary, add one or more Clasps (the metal hooks on your denture that wrap around your remaining natural teeth to hold the denture in your mouth) to new location(s) on your denture. An Add-On will take a day to do the work, unless it needs to be sent away for a retention post to be welded onto the metal framed partial, in which case it is returned the following day.
It is recommended not to have a tooth or teeth added onto an existing partial immediately after the tooth/teeth are extracted. This is due to the swelling of the tissues and the soreness in your mouth needing time to heal. Depending on how quickly you heal, sometimes it can take a few days or sometimes it can take a few weeks. Having said that, in some cases, the tooth/teeth can be added on prior to having them extracted (an Immediate add-on). This is usually done when it is a front tooth and the patient needs to return to work and doesn’t want to be toothless.
Call us as soon as you can to book your Free Consultation to add those missing teeth onto your Partial Denture.
Number of Appointments
Additions to your Existing Partial Denture usually take two appointments, usually on the same day, with the first in early- to mid-morning and the second one in late afternoon. Sometimes the second appointment will be the next day if it is a complicated case. If the denture is a Cast Metal Partial Denture (instead of an Acrylic Partial Denture), and it’s a more complicated case requiring changes to the cast metal framework of the denture, then your denture will have to be sent to another lab (one that has the necessary welding equipment), in which case we would need to wait for it to come back to us—usually the next day (but it may be longer depending on how busy that lab is). Otherwise our on-site lab is equipped with everything needed to replace the clasps on Partial Dentures.
First Appointment: New Impressions are taken of your mouth, since things have changed as a result of losing the one or more teeth (and possible Resorption (shrinkage)). Also, your denturist, consulting with you, will pick the right Shade (colour) of your new teeth based on matching the shade of the other teeth in your denture, and possibly taking into consideration the shade of your remaining natural teeth. If we don’t have that shade and shape of tooth in stock, then your denturist will put in a rush order for them, which usually comes the next day.
Second Appointment: You pick up the finished denture, take it home and once again enjoy eating, speaking and smiling with a full set of teeth—some natural and some artificial—in your mouth!
Free Consultation Appointment: Sometimes there may be a third appointment that happens before the other two—an extra Free Consultation appointment before the add-on. But most of the time that Free Consultation appointment and the taking of the impressions in that first appointment are done in the same appointment. If your newly missing tooth or teeth have already fallen out of mouth or been extracted some time ago, then most likely both those appointments are done at the same time. But if your extraction(s) have been recent, then in the Free Consultation appointment, your denturist will examine your mouth to determine if your mouth has healed well enough to proceed to getting new impressions of your mouth. If more time is needed for healing to complete—your denturist may give you a recommended further waiting time period—then you will go home, wait for that time period, assess yourself the healing status, and then call us to book your final examination to ensure healing is complete. If healing is indeed complete, then we can proceed with the impressions in that same appointment.
If the tooth or teeth are still in your mouth that your dentist recommends having extracted, then we recommend you call us first before you have the extractions, and book a Free Consultation with us. Your denturist can then examine your mouth and existing partial denture, assess everything and make recommendations—usually to go ahead with the extractions and add-on. Your denturist will recommend a short time period usually for healing to take place, after which you can proceed with the add-on.
Add-on appointments are as follows:
Additions to Your Partial Dentures
(2-3 appointments over 1-2 days usually)
Call us to book your Free Consultation appointment
or discuss more with us on the phone!
Call us to book your
Free Consultation appointment
or discuss more with us
on the phone!
Making Additions to a Partial Denture: There are multiple stages to adding one or more teeth onto your existing partial denture if you’ve lost more natural teeth, including this Wax-Up Step with the denture on the Plaster Molds (a.k.a. models) of your mouth based on new impressions of your mouth. But for you it’s a simple process of just coming in for the new impressions and picking up the finished denture on your second appointment.
Our Mission at Grantham Denture Clinic for more than 50 years (first with father Joe and now with son Tim as your denturists) has always been to bring our patients exceptional solutions, techniques and quality care to their denture needs along with a compassionate approach, creating a calming environment with confident, yet gentle, personalized denture care, always putting our patients first. We just love the joy we bring to our patients’ lives when we fit them with a denture that makes them feel whole again.
Office Hours
| Mon | 9:00am-5:00pm |
|---|---|
| Tue | 9:00am-5:00pm |
| Wed | 9:00am-5:00pm |
| Thu | 9:00am-5:00pm |
| Fri | Closed |
| Sat | Closed |
| Sun | Closed |
