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My dad is 91 with a bit of Dementia. He would like to have his last NINE teeth pulled from his lower jaw and get a lower denture. We talked to the oral surgeon and he doesn't see any teeth that could be salvaged for anchors. My understanding is that we remove all of his teeth, they implant at that time and then recover. The thought of a full denture depresses us as I have heard they are not very successful as actual functioning teeth. So we either try to salvage some of his original (they seem to be all rotten) or visit the implant option. Are the lower dentures successful?

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Thanks emjo, we are going to the VA dental this week for a second opinion. I'll let you know what they say-
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Lower dentures are more of a problem than upper dentures which are OK without anchors. I don't think they would be very functional. I looked it up on the internet and apparently there are mini implants for anchoring lower dentures - less expensive and less invasive, You might want to check into those. I understand your concerns about breaking his jaw. I am 77 and my third implant will be on top and in front where the jaw bone is not as strong. I did have bone graft surgery to strength the bone, but after the experience with the other two implants, which went very well, I will express my concerns to the dentist about breaking the upper jaw. They apply a lot of force screwing the posts in. Hopefully the dentist you use will have lots of experience. It might be worth looking for one with experience with seniors.
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How are dentures with no anchors? I heard they float around and are not useful except cosmetically. My Dad's 91 and implants are expensive plus I'm nervous about them breaking his jaw doing an implant.
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My mother had 2 implants done years ago and they work very well for her. She has no remaining teeth of her own. However, I don't know if she had the extractions and implants done at the same time. I think at that point she only had about 3 lower teeth left to anchor her lower dentures. I have had two implants though no dentures, and they did not do the implants at the same time, though some dentists do. My dentist said the success rate is better with healing of the bone from the extraction before putting in the implants - a matter of months. That might not work well for your dad. I would say yes, lower dentures with implants are successful. Good luck and let us know how you make out,
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