Prosthetic Treatment

Dental Prosthetic Treatment: Aesthetic, Functional Solutions for Missing and Damaged Teeth

A healthy mouth is the foundation not only of an attractive smile but also of proper chewing, clear speech and overall body health. The process of replacing teeth that have been lost due to cavities, trauma or gum disease, or that have been weakened by excessive loss of tooth structure, is called dental prosthetic treatment (prosthodontics). Prosthetic treatments aim to restore lost tissues to the patient both aesthetically and functionally, and at the same time to protect the health of the other healthy teeth in the mouth and the jaw joint.

Why Must Missing Teeth Always Be Treated?

When one or more teeth are lost, neighboring teeth begin to tilt toward the empty space and the teeth in the opposite jaw begin to drop. This not only disrupts the chewing pattern but also opens gaps between teeth and creates areas that are hard to clean, paving the way for decay in healthy teeth as well. In addition, missing teeth cause bone loss (resorption) in the jawbone and sagging of the lip/cheek tissues, giving the face an older look. Prosthetic treatments are the most effective way to stop this damaging process.

Types of Dental Prostheses Used Today

Thanks to advancing materials technology, prostheses today are so aesthetic that they are indistinguishable from natural teeth and extremely comfortable to use. Prosthetic treatments are basically divided into three main groups:

1. Fixed Prostheses (Crowns and Bridges): Cemented prostheses that the patient cannot remove on their own, applied when there are only a few missing teeth or when a tooth is damaged beyond saving with a filling.

• Crown (Cap): Reducing a single weakened, broken or root-canal-treated tooth and covering it like a cap.
• Bridge: Using the healthy teeth next to the missing tooth as support (abutments) and filling the gap between them. Today, zirconium or all-ceramic (E-max) materials, whose light transmission is closest to natural teeth, are often preferred for these procedures.

2. Removable Prostheses (Dentures): Prostheses that the patient can put in and take out, applied when the tooth loss is too great to be solved with a fixed bridge or when no teeth remain.

• In partial tooth loss, partial dentures that attach to the existing teeth with clasps or hidden retainers (precision attachments) are used.
• When all teeth are lost, complete dentures, commonly known as "plates", are applied.

3. Implant-Supported Prostheses: The most modern and permanent solution for missing teeth in today's dentistry. These are prostheses prepared by taking support from titanium screws (implants) placed in the jawbone. Unlike fixed bridges, there is no need to cut the healthy neighboring teeth. In addition, implant-supported solutions (such as All-on-4 and All-on-6) are successfully applied in patients who have no teeth at all, to prevent removable complete dentures from moving in the mouth and to offer fixed use.

Implant-supported prostheses: fixed and removable options

Implant-supported prostheses are artificial teeth placed on implants in the jawbone to replace missing teeth. They can be planned as fixed or removable. After the implant has fused with the bone, the prosthesis is generally made 2-4 months later depending on the implant brand used; the top of the implant is uncovered, healing caps are attached and an impression is taken as if there were a natural tooth in the mouth.

Fixed implant-supported prostheses

• Single-tooth crown: A single crown placed on a single implant. It can be zirconium, metal-supported porcelain or, depending on the case, monolithic zirconium.
• Bridge: When several teeth are missing, implants are placed at intervals and a bridge is designed by filling the space between them with pontic structures.
• All-on-4 / All-on-6: For complete tooth loss, 8 implants in the upper jaw and 6 in the lower jaw are normally recommended. If the bone does not allow this number, implants are placed at certain angles and in a certain design as 4 or 6 implants, and special prostheses on a titanium bar are made on top.

Fixed prostheses can be applied with screw-retained or cemented (bonded) systems.

Removable implant-supported prostheses (overdenture)

Commonly known as a "snap-on denture"; its medical name is a bar-retained or locator-retained overdenture prosthesis. When the jawbone is insufficient, 2 to 4 implants are placed and a prosthesis that includes the pink part supporting the gum and cheek-tongue tissues is seated on top. The prosthesis clicks onto the implants; the patient can easily remove it for cleaning and put it back. Its difference from classic removable dentures is that it does not move, because it takes support from the implants underneath.

Comfortable Impressions and Fast Results with Digital Dentistry

In the past, putty-like impression materials that made patients feel nauseous were used to make prostheses. Today, thanks to "Digital Dentistry", a 3D picture of the teeth is taken with intraoral digital scanners and transferred to the computer in seconds. In this way, the patient's comfort during the impression is maximized and prostheses (zirconium, porcelain, etc.) are produced with millimetric precision in a much shorter time.

Your Reliable Clinic for Dental Prosthetic Treatment in Ankara

To get rid of the aesthetic concerns and chewing difficulties caused by your missing teeth and to get natural teeth that suit your face best, accurate diagnosis and the use of quality materials are very important. When looking for dental prosthetic treatment in Ankara, we offer you a comfortable treatment using digital impression systems (intraoral scanners) in zirconium crowns, implant-supported fixed prostheses and precision-attachment prostheses. At Klinik 99 Oral and Dental Health Polyclinic, we look forward to a detailed examination to complete your missing teeth in the healthiest and most natural way. You can contact us for treatment alternatives specific to you.

Klinik 99 Oral and Dental Health Polyclinic Address: Güvenevler, Güvenlik Cd. No: 99 A-B, 06690 Çankaya/Ankara Phone: 0540 640 6006

Highlights of This Service

• Fixed prostheses
• Removable prostheses
• Natural look
• Comfortable use