I was told today that in order to have dentures I would have to have these bony ridges on the roof of my mouth shaved. Be honest is this going to be as painful as they said? It would seem that my ridges are the worst my dentist has ever seen in over 100 thousand patients. Lucky me. He says without the shaving the dentures will not fit properly. Any advise and all honesty welcomed. It sounds like a horrible procedure.
Thank you
Salina from Georgia
Salina,
That bony ridge is called a taurus, and if it’s really big it can prevent the proper fitting of a removable denture. I don’t think having it removed is as bad as having all your teeth out, but I wouldn’t call it fun, either. The surgery is a little tricky, so you want to be sure that the dentist doing this has done it before. If you’re nervous about it, I’d recommend being sedated. Sleep dentistry can make any dental appointment a piece of cake.
But I wonder if you’ve fully thought about the option of dental implants instead of removable dentures? When all your teeth are extracted, your body begins to resorb all that bone that used to hold your teeth. As your jaw shrinks, over maybe twenty years or so it will get so that your mouth won’t even be able to hold a denture comfortably. Your face shrivels up with what is called facial collapse. But the placement of dental implants prevents that bone resorption, plus you can go on eating and chewing normally.