Advice on dentures for person with dementia, implant vs. regular bottom dentures (adult, father)
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Hello, hubby has been accepted as a patient at the local dental school. He had his first appointment and in two weeks he will meet with the oral surgeons to go over the schedule for removing the rest of his teeth.
Now, the cost of the dentures themselves vary whether or not I decide to have my husband have the two implants on the bottom denture or just the regular bottom denture. We did not discuss the final costs by my guess is that the difference between hubby having regular full dentures and having the bottom denture attached to those two snap-like implants would be about $2,500 vs. $6,000 (maybe even as high as $8,000). The cost at the dental school is about 50% of a what a regular dentist would charge. If the extra cost is worth it, for a 64 year old man, than I would go with the more expensive, implant bottom dentures for DH.
So, do any of you have any ideas of having the snap in dentures would be better for someone with dementia than just the regular dentures? When we visited the oral surgeons two years ago they all strongly, strongly recommended the dentures that snapped in to dental implants. My husband's regular dentist also highly recommended them.
But, I actually do not even know one person who has dentures (except for an acquaintance who has the $30,000 dentures that are permanently attached in his mouth - BTW he loves them). I am sure that there are posters that either have dentures or know people who have recently had dentures that could give me some advice.
Any ideas? If hubby gets the implants he will have to wait four months before the dentures are made. He can have "temporary dentures" for that time that add about $600 to the cost.
Last edited by germaine2626; 09-11-2016 at 09:13 PM..
Germaine, if he has enough supporting bone left in his lower jaw to hold the implants, that's generally considered better than traditional dentures. The oral surgeon will have done films to determine that.
Sometimes bone grafts or transplants can be done. I had three cadaver bone grafts done when the oral surgeon was fixing another problem a few years ago, so I'm ready for implants.
Traditional dentures often have fitting problems leading to pain and the tendency for people to avoid wearing the dentures. Gagging is also an issue, since the dentures are completely foreign non-food objects.
I believe implant-supported dentures have no artificial palate, so gagging is reduced. If the dentures are fixed, obviously they're not removed and reinserted, but oral hygiene is still crucial.
I've read it's important for the patient to understand that traditional dentures are nothing like real teeth. Their primary purpose is aesthetic.
I am considering the mid-priced dentures that snap-in not the ones that are permanently attached to his teeth. In my city, the higher priced ones cost about $30,000 and I certainly do not have, nor can I justify, that amount of money on teeth. Even at the dental school it would be half the price and $15,000 is far too expensive. For me/us even the higher priced $6,000 (lower denture with two implants) is pretty hard to justify.
All, I just remembered another complication. Hubby has a medication condition that causes him to throw up (the condition is not correctable, he has had it for over 20 years). Sometimes he throws up only once every day or two and sometimes it is four or five times a day. I am guessing that you would have to remove dentures before you throw up or they would fall out of your mouth. But maybe that is not true, esp. with the snap-in bottoms. Any one have any ideas?
Do anyone you have experience with how people with more advanced dementia or Alzheimer's handle dentures? It is just hard to imagine what will happen in the future.
Ny Mom has dentures and she is in a SNF with dementia. Her dentures have been 'lost' several times. We ended up just buying her new ones for the top this time. No need to put her through the pain of anything permanent but permanent would be better in the long run.
At 90 with dementia she needs soft and easy as we can make it.
If she stayed in home with us, removable dentures would work OK. After all, they would have to be somewhere but in a facility anything can be anywhere.
I have an implant. I had to have the original tooth pulled, and a screw thing put in its place. I had to wait weeks before I could get the replacement tooth. Then I went through three tries with the dentist to get the new tooth into place. This involved pain with no success. I then ended up going back to the oral surgeon to have a different screw put in, more pain--real, awful pain. Then, finally I got the artificial tooth. Then I find out I am supposed to now sleep with a mouth guard. That'll, be an extra $300, please, to make the fitted to me mouth guard.
Before you embark on the implants please consider the pain involved vs outcome. Ask about hidden costs. Does your DH grind his teeth when he sleeps? If he does, he might not be a candidate for an implant.
As I understand it, dentures interfere with taste however, because they cover the palate. I believe this is correct.
And, your DH's teeth might well have been so bad because he threw up. As I understand it, throwing up hurts the enamel of the teeth. How would it affect the artificial teeth, I wonder.
If money is not a problem I would go with fixed dentures the patient can't remove.
Here's why. My father had dementia and was a denture wearer. And yes parts of this are funny! It was hard to take him out to dinner. I can't tell you how many times I glanced over and found him eating in a restaurant with his teeth IN his dinner plate! Then there are the TWO toilets a plumber had to break to remove the dentures he had been trying to flush! He had it in his mind that if it bothers you it goes in the toilet. Arrrgh! Next, they can't really tell you or explain if there is a problem or the dentures need to be adjusted. Eventually, he just quit wearing them and honestly he still was able to eat just fine. Just looked bad!
My mom had dementia and had due to cost a front partial. She was often misplacing them then was in a nursing home.
I guess for safety reasons the staff kept them out. A dentist there called me to want her to get a very pricey dental procedure, I said no she has what she has but the staff takes it out. Oh he said, anyway she never did last a year there so that would have been no help at all. Implants often cause more pain as people have told me and they are costly.
when she was well the ones she did have were out at night and she did soak to clean them not that I did pay much attention then. The reason she did go cheaper was my brother had dental problems where her money went.
Last edited by maggiekate; 09-12-2016 at 03:24 PM..
I have a single implant. Granted, I'm quite a bit younger than the population generally being discussed here, but the implant procedure itself was really not particularly that bad. (Done under local anesthetic, less than 1 hour total).
I'm sure like most medical/dental procedures - some people tolerate it better than others.
My father had partials top and bottom for most of his adult life. When he spent time in nursing homes, after surgeries or illnesses, they usually seemed to get lost or damaged. The last time I saw him, a week before he died in a nursing home, I spent almost my entire visit trying to figure out how to put one of his partials in. I hadn't seen them in maybe 60 years and had no idea how to do it. My mother was there but seemed disinclined to help. My father was not mentally sharp any more and could not help much. After a while, my mother told me it was broken. An aide did manage to somehow get it in, because he wanted it in. It's kind of funny that my last memory of my father was that half hour struggling to get his denture in.
It's something to think about with progressive dementia.
I have a single implant. Granted, I'm quite a bit younger than the population generally being discussed here, but the implant procedure itself was really not particularly that bad. (Done under local anesthetic, less than 1 hour total).
I'm sure like most medical/dental procedures - some people tolerate it better than others.
You are lucky! I had anesthesia for the tooth pull. No anesthesia for the fitting. I was so disgusted with the dentist that I changed dentists, and I will never, ever go back to that oral surgeon.
I've never had a problem with dental procedures, and I've been going to the dentist regularly for decades.
I hope to never, ever need another implant.
I recommend finding out up front about what is involved with these. Perhaps there are better dentists for implants? I sure got a doozy.
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