What’s the difference between full dentures & partials?
Losing teeth in adulthood does not have to cripple your daily eating habits, your social life or your confidence. Thanks to progress in dentistry, removable dentures - whether full or partials - can look as natural as real teeth. At your denture or partial appointment, the dentist will take precise measurements of your mouth and gums to ensure your replacement teeth fits your facial profile.
Partial Dentures
Partial Dentures or removable bridges are used when one or more natural teeth remain in the upper or lower jaw. Partial dentures are a few replacement teeth designed to fit between those remaining natural teeth, much like a puzzle piece.
The replacement teeth are attached to a pink gum-colored plastic base, which is anchored to the existing remaining teeth by the help of a little hidden metallic clasp so that the partial dentures hold in place in the mouth.
Full Dentures
Full dentures are for people without any remaining healthy teeth. Traditional dentures rest on top of the gum line, and they stay in place with natural suction or the help of a denture adhesive.
The denture adhesive cream will prevent the denture from slipping or moving, increasing your overall confidence and allowing you to do all the things you can do with natural teeth. The denture adhesive is applied and removed daily.
Did you know that all our Fixodent adhesives are also great to use with partial dentures?
Just as a denture adhesive can help maintain the full dentures in place, it can also help to stabilize your partials as well as avoid food particles slipping underneath. An adhesive is also very important as part of a healthy daily care routine of your partials for another reason. Did you know that wearing partials can put extra stress on the remaining natural teeth if it is not stabilized properly? If the pressure is too frequent or too strong, in the case of ill fitting partials, it can possibly cause the natural teeth to move. This could increase the risk of losing your remaining natural teeth over time. Which is why applying Fixodent denture adhesive on your partials can reduce the stress on your natural remaining teeth by distributing the pressure over denture bearing tissues, thereby reducing local pressure points on the supporting teeth, so that they can remain stronger and you can keep them for longer.
Do I need a specific adhesive cream for partial dentures?
You do not need a specific adhesive for your removable partials, and that is why All Fixodent adhesives are great to use on both full and partial plates. As you have seen above, there are only slight differences in the way removable full dentures and removable partial dentures work. What you need is to care for is a great quality denture adhesive that has great hold power, a very easy to use nozzle, and the taste that you prefer.
However, if you want the cleanest possible application on your small partials, we have the perfect product for you.
Did you know that our best Fixodent adhesives, like Foodseal and Dual Protection, have a nozzle that is 75% thinner compared with other traditional denture adhesives? The extra thin nozzle makes it a lot easier to use with small partial as you can apply the cream is very precise and thin continuous lines, so that there is no risk to overdose and have the cream flow over the partials into the mouth.