Draper Dentures

Dentures that fit properly increase your comfort, confidence, and well-being. At Angel’s Smile Dental Care, Dr. Oksana Bailey offers quality, custom-fitted dentures so you can focus on what matters most without worrying about your smile.

Quality Makes a Difference

Many dentists will shortcut the process of denture design to provide a more economical treatment option for their patients. Though this may cut costs, it produces a less accurate result, compromising quality and sacrificing proper fit and function. Poorly designed or ill-fitting dentures can have negative effects that range from physical pain to social embarrassment, including the following:

• Coming loose
• Requiring messy denture adhesive to stay in place
• Discomfort
• Jaw strain
• Chewing difficulty
• Speech problems (such as a lisp)
• Unintentional whistling
• A shrunken facial appearance

At Angel’s Smile, we don’t skip any steps in the denture design process. Our focus is on creating quality, comfortable dentures that look and feel as natural as possible.

“Dr. Bailey was so kind and helpful! I took my mom to so many places for her dentures, and everyone seemed to ignore everything. But she listened carefully and adjusted my mom’s dentures!” — Leticia Cromar

Dentures: Our Process

We’ll begin by taking impressions of your jaws. To capture the most detail, we use multiple impressions. From the first impression, we make models of your jaws on which we construct a custom tray that is built to fit only your mouth. Then we use that custom tray with a two-impression technique. We’ll take an impression of the general boundaries of each arch using a highly viscous material. Then, with a thinner material, we’ll take a second impression that records all of the fine details of your mouth. Using these impressions, we’ll create plaster models of your jaws on which we’ll build your denture.

The next step is to establish the vertical dimension of your dentures, or how far apart your upper and lower jaws should be situated at rest. To do this, Dr. Bailey will form adjustable rims out of wax onto temporary acrylic baseplates. These represent the estimated height of your upper and lower dentures. She’ll have you try these on to determine if your jaws are too far apart (which would cause discomfort and speech difficulty) or too close together (which would shrink your face, strain your jaw, and affect your speech). She’ll manipulate the wax rims until the vertical dimension is just right for your comfort and for optimal function.

Dr. Bailey will then take some measurements of the correctly positioned jaws and input these into a device called an articulator. She’ll mount the plaster models of your jaws on the articulator, which simulates a functioning jaw joint. This allows her to calibrate your bite so that it is properly balanced for healthy chewing function. Next, she’ll send the marked measurements on the wax rims to the dental laboratory, where your denture teeth will be carefully crafted and aligned in wax to create a try-in denture.

When your wax try-in is ready, we’ll have you come in to see how it looks and feels on you. In particular, Dr. Bailey will be checking for your comfort, satisfaction with your smile aesthetics, and ability to speak naturally. She’ll have you practice saying some words to make sure your dentures are allowing proper speech function. Any adjustments that need to be made will be conveyed to the laboratory. When everything looks and feels as it should, the laboratory will create your permanent dentures, and we’ll notify you when they’re ready!

Which Denture is the Most Like Real Teeth?

At Angel’s Smile, we make every effort to create the most comfortable dentures possible. But if you want to feel like you have your real teeth again, nothing beats implant-supported dentures. Dental implants stabilize dentures, offering a more comfortable, natural feel as well as the self-confidence that brings. They also prevent bone resorption and facial collapse, which contributes to a prematurely aged appearance. To learn more, visit our page on implant-supported dentures.

Let’s Talk Dentures

If you’d like to learn more about your options in dentures, we welcome you to schedule a complimentary consultation with Dr. Bailey. To schedule, give us a call. Or feel free to request an appointment online, and we’ll contact you to set one up.