FAQs

Using the custom trays that were fabricated after your previous appointment, final impressions can be taken of your upper and lower jaw arches. The material used in these impressions is different from the alginate used before. This material is smoother, more sturdy, and does not dry our or change shape after it sets. The combination of the tray that is made specifically to fit your mouth, and the more permanent impression material, ensures that the denture will fit as accurately against your tissue as possible. This appointment takes about 15 minutes.

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After you leave, the lab technician pours up this final impression and trims the resulting model to remove any imperfections. Once the model is trimmed, a bite block can be made on top of it. This is a tray that sits over your ridges, in much the same way that your denture will. A thick piece of wax it secured around the edge of the tray, in alignment with your bone structure underneath. When inserted in the mouth, these bite blocks will fit together like toothless dentures. The lab time involved after your appointment takes about 2 hours.

This appointment is to determine the relationship between your upper and lower jaw. With a detailed study of your facial structure, Dr. Turner can find what's called your 'natural plane of occlusion' -- the place where your teeth should come together when you close your mouth. To do this, he'll use the wax bite blocks the lab technicians made after your previous appointment. You'll insert them into your mouth, he'll shape them accordingly, then he'll melt a piece of soft wax in-between the upper and lower bite block, so that they remain in the same closed position, even after they come out of your mouth. During this appointment, the assistant will also help you decide what shade of tooth color you would like the teeth in your new dentures to be. This appointment takes about 45 minutes.

After you leave, the lab technicians secure your bite registration to the models of your mouth that the bite blocks were made on, then mount your models on an articulator. The articulator is designed simulate the opening and closing movements of your jaw, so that, once closed, the wax bite blocks come together in the same place your teeth would come together when you bite down. Now the teeth can be set into the wax and shaped to resemble a set of dentures. The lab time involved in this process takes about 6 hours.

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In this step, you get to have a preview of what your final denture will look like. All of the teeth are set into the wax bite block (that was used in your last appointment) and dressed up to resemble final dentures. You will try them in, take a look in a mirror, and consider the color, size and shape, and position of the teeth. Let us know if you like your new smile, or if there are questions or concerns you have about how things look, before we go ahead and process them! This appointment takes about 10 minutes.

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Once you give us permission to move forward, our lab technicians will remount your wax try in dentures on the models of your mouth and invest them into stone inside brass flasks. Once secure, we can boil out the wax around the teeth without fear of the teeth moving position. The space left vacant by the wax can now be filled with acrylic denture material. The flasks are machine pressed closed, so that the acrylic material spreads evenly around every tooth and along your ridges. Then the flasks are boiled at various temperatures for 2 hours. After they have cooled, the flasks can be broken open and the models removed. All of the stone and extra acrylic must be ground away from the denture. It is professionally shaped and polished, and ready to become your new smile. The lab time involved in this process takes nearly 7 hours!