The Evolution Of The Cost Of Dentures And Modern Tooth Replacement Methods

By Author: Derek Dawson
Total Articles: 61
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Removable dentures are bulky prosthetic dental devices that are fabricated to provide edentulous (toothless) or near edentulous patients with a way to eat, speak and look as close to normal given the circumstances. Dentures have been around since the Middle Ages, which is surprising when you consider how popular they still are today, in spite of the many more advanced teeth replacement solutions and technologies that are available. There are, of course, key differences between the dentures your grandparents wear and the ones people had a few hundred years back…
The Cost of Dentures in the Middle Ages
The ancestor of modern dentures were made from either animal or human teeth; the latter of which would be plundered from the graves of those who had passed on, or even purchased from people who, out of sheer desperation for money, would extract their own! Back then, the cost of dentures would be a large hog, a few pounds of vegetables and cheese, or perhaps a handsome saddle fashioned out of cow’s hide. The cost of dentures you’d pay all depended upon your particular area of expertise and skill. Regardless, ...
... however, the cost of dentures back then was – by today’s standards – hardly worth the meat on that hog’s backside. Not only were these archaic dentures incredibly crude and unstable, they were also challenging to eat with, terribly unhygienic and tended to rot after awhile!
The Cost of Dentures: Modern Developments
The first use of artificial teeth fashioned out of ceramic material dates back to the late 1700s. Not only was this material more aesthetically-pleasing than the teeth of cadavers, it was also far more hygienic. Ceramic is also quite durable and so enabled the edentulous and near-edentulous to use their replacement teeth to eat with. A few decades on, the cost of dentures sky-rocketed after dentists began mounting these ceramic teeth into gold plates, which, in addition to looking very pleasing indeed, were also surprisingly durable and long lasting! Modern dentures, thankfully, are not made from gold frames. Fabricated from acrylic and other plastics, the cost of dentures has mercifully settled to a more affordable price. In fact, the modern cost of dentures offers patients the cheapest tooth replacement solution on the market… but it is also the most inferior.
Money Aside, the Real Cost of Dentures
Even though dentists today use their most sophisticated technologies and materials to fabricate removable dentures, it is the inherent nature and design of these devices that will forever see them playing second best to dental implants. The cost of dentures is not only a price that patients pay in dollar bills; one’s very quality of life is compromised by these clumsy, bulky and uncomfortable artificial teeth. Back in the Middle Ages, people understood what they were getting with the cost of dentures: a very crude solution to missing teeth. But then again, the people who would wear dentures fabricated from cadaver teeth were accustomed to chronic discomfort. Nowadays, the solutions available for tooth loss are far more sophisticated, comprehensive and long-lived. Dental implants are recommended by dentists all over the world because of their superior ability to replace teeth: functionally, aesthetically and in fit, feel and longevity. The cost of dentures simply cannot rival these benefits.
A Final Note on the Cost of Dentures
Whether you have lost most or all of your teeth to periodontal (gum) disease or as a result of a lifetime spent in the ring as a trophy-winning boxer, you have to make a decision on teeth replacement. The cost of dentures may be lower than dental implants initially, but in the long term, dentures cost more to maintain, not only financially but in comfort, convenience and overall quality of life too. Modern dental implant protocols – such as the All-on-4 technique – enable patients to save tens of thousands of dollars on oral rehabilitation, with fewer surgeries and a quicker recovery time. The results? Infinitely better than those afforded by the cost of dentures!