Can I Get Dentures For Just My Bottom Teeth?

“Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

Famous last words …

Even as those words exit our lips, we scratch our heads a little at some of our poor choices. The same choices that once seemed like a really great idea.

If you are a visual person, when you own your home, your landscaping is probably pretty important to you. You want to drive up to your house and see it enhanced by what surrounds it. You are probably a curb appeal person.

A brand new, beautiful home with a yard is fine. But, a brand new home with well-placed evergreen shrubs, flowering bushes, perennial flowers, an annual flower bed, and just the right shade of mulch? That house is so much more warm and inviting.

It takes research, know-how, and planning to set that landscape area up so it can continue to be beautiful as all of the plants grow. It requires regular maintenance to control weeds and shape the bushes. 

Most of us have seen homes where the landscaping was not well planned. The space for planting was too narrow, so the bushes were crowded and there was no room to plant any flowers. Not to mention, it just looks generic. 

Or, those landscapers might have left plenty of space for flowers and bushes … but they also chose to plant trees. They planted cute, little baby trees right next to the house. Yep. They look so fantastic.

Everything looks so nice for a while. 

But, their branches get longer and they get taller. It is a given that those trees grow. 

And so do their roots. 

Do you know what? Roots don’t care about the foundation of your house. Roots don’t notice your house sitting there and think, Golly. We should grow in the opposite direction of that house.

No ma’am. Roots don’t have brains. Roots don’t care about your foundation. And if you planted a beautiful weeping willow tree next to your house, well those suckers are sneaky. They are all party above the grass and evil business going on underneath the grass.

Tree roots will invade your foundation and cause chaos. A house divided by tree roots cannot stand, people! You can’t live in a house with an unstable foundation.

And it’s all because somebody thought that tree would look so great next to your house. 

Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time, didn’t it?

So did that tattoo of your first love’s name, “Sheri.” Too bad your wife’s name is Rachel. 

Or what about that time you sported a mustache in the ninth grade? You were sooo mature for your age. That would’ve been a stellar fashion statement if you actually had real facial hair rather than the twelve whiskers you refused to shave for No-Shave November.

Knowing all of this, why would you still make choices that only seem to be a good idea?

Like getting dentures for your bottom teeth.

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Can You Get Dentures for Just Your Bottom Teeth?

You bet. You sure can. We have seen plenty of people who decided to get dentures to replace their bottom teeth. It is a definite possibility for you.

We’re not saying it’s a good idea, we’re just telling you that it’s a possibility. That’s true. 

Of course, some of our choices have consequences. Consequences come with life lessons, some of which are much more unpleasant to learn than others.

Getting dentures on your bottom teeth most certainly has consequences.

First of all, if you put dentures on your bottom teeth, you no longer have any of your bottom teeth. It’s always better to save as many of your natural teeth as possible. 

We’re not telling you to keep five teeth and do your best to function. No, that is definitely not a good idea. Keep reading and we will continue to explain.

The first issue is replacing your bottom teeth with dentures means you no longer have any of those teeth. When you no longer have those teeth, it is detrimental to your jawbone. 

Your natural teeth have a root system that connects to the jawbone. When you bite down and chew on your food, the pressure of the chewing travels through the roots to the jaw and stimulates your bone cells to regenerate. 

The physical act of chewing with natural teeth can actually strengthen that jawbone and encourages it to remain healthy and thriving.

So what happens when you’re missing your natural permanent teeth?

Well, it’s not good. The bone cells that are no longer being stimulated by your natural teeth begin going through a process of resorption. Resorption is when the healthy bone cells are reabsorbed by the blood stream and taken away from the bones that need them to fulfill their purpose.

When our jawbone no longer has cells regenerating and helping it to increase in strength, it’s life cycle essentially moves in reverse. Your jaw bone begins to atrophy.

What does this have to do with bottom dentures?

You no longer have teeth attached to roots that are stimulating your jaw bone. Those pearly whites are officially gone. 

There is literally nothing encouraging your jawbone to keep producing bone cells or to stay healthy and strong. Nary a bottom tooth is in your head to get that job done! 

So it isn’t one spot in your jaw that begins to atrophy. It is your entire jaw that begins to atrophy. Dentures cannot stimulate that bone. So your jawbone basically gives up.

As long as you wear dentures, your bone can continue to shrink. There are many things we hope will shrink as we age … our bums, our thighs, our bellies. But never ever do we hope that our bones will shrink. 

Our bones form our skeletal structure. Our skin hangs on that skeletal framework. So, when that framework begins to shrink, it affects the skin. 

Do you know what that means? Your skin that is already losing elasticity and is struggling to fight gravity now has a shrinking bone structure to cope with. Our skin responds by sagging. Yay. 

Bone loss and saggy skin. Nice, huh?

Guess what? There’s more. Yep. We have more reasons why bottom dentures are not a decision you want to stick with.

Bottom Dentures Don’t Stay in Place!

You pull all your teeth and expect these new “false” teeth to get the job done, right? That’s what you paid for! Who in their right mind would pull their teeth and get dentures if they weren’t going to function well?!

Plenty of people.

And yet, those pesky bottom dentures are sitting in your mouth and causing frustration because they just won’t stay in place. Your bottom dentures rely on gravity and your cheek muscles to hold them in place.

No biggie because we always have gravity, right? You probably have no plans to go into space with your dentures any time soon, so this isn’t a problem. 

Your cheek muscles are a little less reliable. That can’t be helped. Our muscles just get weaker as we age. No matter. If you want those dentures to stay in place, you will have to train your cheek muscles to hold them in place. 

You can try some denture adhesive to lock that baby in place. Just slather on a little extra and say a little prayer that it holds still all day.

Unfortunately, if the lower dentures are not staying in place because they no longer fit well, then no amount of adhesive is going to hold them in place.

The bigger problem is that darn bone atrophy. Your jaw bone is shrinking little by little. Your dentures were fitted to your original mouth shape.

But your original mouth shape has changed and will continue to change because your jawbone is shrinking. Year after year, your jaw is getting smaller and your dentures are staying the same size. 

In other words, they don’t fit. 

You can have them relined to make them fit again. 

And then repeat that process again. And again … until you no longer have any bone for your dentures to actually sit on. Your bone has completely shriveled away.  

There you have it. Now you know that it is possible for you to replace your bottom teeth with a set of dentures. And you also know that is going to be one of those decisions that seems like a good idea at the time … 

And comes back to bite you later! (But not a secure bite. An ill-fitting bite.)

What Should You Do to Replace Your Bottom Teeth?

Now that you know what not to do, let’s talk about what you should do to replace those unhealthy or injured bottom teeth. Let’s talk about full mouth dental implants. 

Better yet, let’s talk Nuvia Dental Implants. 

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One of the most clearcut benefits of our dental implants is that we take a long and drawn out process and reduce the time frame down to not a couple of months, not a couple of weeks … not even a couple of days.

With Nuvia Dental Implants, you can expect to have new permanent teeth in twenty-four hours. 

We won’t set you in temporary dentures that can easily break or some other version of false teeth for weeks. Nope. Your final set is in your mouth within a short, twenty-four-hour period from surgery.

We have more good news about our full mouth dental implants. That liquid diet that comes with dentures? Mmm-mm. None of that. You are not stuck slurping protein shakes and soup. You can begin eating real food immediately, as long as it’s soft.

Due to the impeccable fit of our implants, you can expect them to be stable and long-lasting. That’s another win for you.

You won’t have to concentrate on holding your cheeks just right to keep your new teeth in place. They are not going to slip. They are not going to lose their alignment. You will be able to talk freely without worrying about your teeth falling out!

Guess what else that means? It means that our implants will basically act like roots. Remember the importance of your roots? They encourage bone health, strength, and regeneration. Say goodbye to further bone loss and hello to secure teeth.

Your health and safety are a top priority for us. We are not going to leave your surgery or sedation up to chance. So, we assign you your very own anesthetist for your sedation, allowing your implant surgeon to be solely focused on your procedure.

In Conclusion 

Getting dentures for your bottom teeth may seem like a good idea. In fact, you’ll find plenty of resources on the internet that will point you in the direction of dentures. The internet is full of “reliable” information. 

Remember, the internet also has resources that show you how to crochet your own shoes. It doesn’t make it a good idea. 

Just like your doctor begs you not to google your medical symptoms and self-diagnose, we implore you to give us a call before you make any decisions involving dentures. Our experts are here to answer all of your questions and educate you on all things involving replacement teeth.