Your patient experience is critical. A treatment modality failing to deliver long-term patient satisfaction can damage this experience especially if you prescribe dental flippers that ultimately fail your patients.
Dental flippers have pros and cons. On the pro side, they’re affordable, natural looking, and easy for patients to remove, while keeping surrounding teeth from shifting into the open space. However, the cons are they don’t stimulate the bone, the clasps used to hold them in place are sometimes visible and can loosen with use. Plus, the lightweight material they are made from means they can break easily.
Perhaps most importantly, patients dislike flipper teeth. When treating edentulism, you need dental flipper alternatives that won’t damage your patient experience.
What is a dental flipper?
A dental flipper is a removable partial denture with an artificial tooth or teeth that fills an edentulous space in the arch. They use clasps or stay plates attached to surrounding dentition to keep them in place. Unlike a flexible partial denture, flipper teeth are usually made of hard acrylic of metal. Dental flippers in the maxilla cover the roof of the patient’s mouth, but in the mandible sit on the jaw.
Why are dental flippers used?
A dental flipper can be a permanent solution. Usually, for patients with a condition precluding them from other tooth replacement options.
For example, heavy smokers, patients with chronic conditions like diabetes, or cancer patients undergoing radiation treatment for areas in their head or neck often use a flipper tooth. Others wear a flipper when there is not enough bone to support an implant. Sometimes, it’s the only tooth replacement option the patient can afford. Children can get a flipper tooth when their anatomy is too underdeveloped for an implant or bridge.
However, dental flippers are also used temporarily. Some clinicians use flippers while a patient heals after an extraction, gum surgery, or dental implant surgery, like a bone or tissue graft. These healing times can be as long as six months, so a flipper tooth is an affordable and esthetic solution.
A dental implant is an alternative for replacing missing teeth, but not the only one. Here are other dental flipper alternatives.
Dental flipper alternative: Maryland bridge
The Maryland bridge, named after the University of Maryland faculty who introduced it, is an adhesive-retained, fixed bridge. This alternative has one or two wings, bonded to abutments, with an artificial tooth in between. They are usually porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM), although sometimes employ ceramic teeth.
A Maryland bridge doesn’t require crowns on the teeth adjacent to the missing tooth. The dentist adheres the wings to the back of the surrounding teeth to hold them in place.
Pros of Maryland bridges
Maryland bridges have advantages. They are non-invasive, require minimal preparation, and do not require anesthesia. They are not painful, nor do they require downtime for recovery. Plus, they are easy to replace if there is a problem.
Cons of Maryland bridges
There are drawbacks, too. They can’t hold up to bite force in the posterior. They also don’t work for patients missing more than two teeth or those with poor oral hygiene or high caries risk. Plus, they can break and don’t always match the natural teeth as well as everyone hoped.
How Maryland bridges compare to dental flippers
A Maryland Bridge has some hard-to-beat features. For example, the Maryland Bridge requires less maintenance and allows patients to eat, talk, and clean their teeth like always. By contrast, a flipper tooth is more invasive than a Maryland Bridge and requires careful cleaning and maintenance.
Dental flipper alternative: Essix retainer
Another alternative is an Essix retainer, a clear plastic removable appliance that fits over patient’s teeth. Created from the patient’s impression, they fit over patients’ teeth.
Many clinicians use Essix retainers after orthodontic treatment. However, they also hide missing teeth by filling the spaces with prosthetics inside the plastic.
Pros of the Essix retainer
Essix retainers have some excellent advantages. They are removable, which makes home care and retainer cleaning easier. Plus, people don’t notice Essix retainers when patients wear them. In addition, they are easy to fabricate and require no mouth preparation, which makes them a simple solution for a transitional replacement of missing teeth, particularly in the anterior where tooth loss can be traumatic to patients. In addition, the appliance can protect the healing site below from food particle irritations.
Cons of the Essix retainer
Not everything is perfect, though. Essix retainers do not adjust, so what you have is what you get and if you need a new one, you need a new retainer. If it breaks, you can’t fix it either. Also, plastic can warp if it gets too hot. Additionally, patients sometimes have challenges adjusting their speech with them. Plus, some patients have a higher risk for increased plaque levels and more gingival bleeding from wearing them.
How Essix retainers compare to dental flippers
An Essix retainers’ transparent nature means they’re invisible. A flipper tooth’s clasps or wires are not. Also, an Essix retainer is less bulky, so it might be more comfortable than a flipper for the patient. Flipper teeth might feel uncomfortable in the patient’s mouth, especially at first. Like a flipper tooth, an Essix retainer is also affordable, so patients don’t have to compromise on their budget with them either.
Dental flipper alternative: Temporary crown
Temporary crowns, or temporaries cap what remains of a damaged natural tooth to restore function and esthetics while protecting what is left of it underneath. Once the permanent crown is complete, the dentist removes the temporary crown to place the final restoration. Temporary crowns are usually made of acrylic, composite resin, or stainless steel.
A temporary crown serves many of the same functions as a permanent crown. A temporary can prevent bacterial infection. Temporaries also hold the space open for the permanent restoration. Sometimes, they keep a dental bridge in place or cover a dental implant. They can also mask an unattractive tooth or protect a tooth that has had a root canal from further damage.
Pros of the temporary crown
Temporary crowns play an essential role in the optimal outcomes of dental crowns. They protect the pulp and prevent infection, preserving the gum tissue. They also enhance the health of the abutments and periodontium. They also preview the esthetics of the future prosthesis.
Cons of the temporary crown
A temporary crown is not perfect. It won’t shade match as well because the materials used are different. The fit won’t be exact either, which means food and bacteria can get underneath and cause decay. Also, patients have to modify their diets since the cement can’t hold up to the rigors of hard, sugary, or sticky foods. In addition, patients have to brush and floss gentler than with a permanent crown.
How temporary crowns compare to dental flippers
Temporary crowns are better than a flipper tooth in some areas. For example, temporaries fill the space quickly while waiting for the bone to heal around an implant and prevent shifting of the surrounding teeth. Plus, they improve esthetics over the metal clasps often visible with flippers.
Alternatives to dental flippers to impact the patient experience
You want your patients to have the best possible experience. However, providing that experience requires knowing what matters most to them. Then, you can ensure they get that from your treatment planning and options.
Many options might be better for the patient experience than a dental flipper tooth. From a Maryland bridge to an Essix retainer with a prosthetic tooth or a temporary crown, you have several options that can affordably treat edentulism—and keep patients returning to you for care year after year.
If you’re serious about creating a better patient experience, not just in your clinical operations, but in your business operations, check out the Dandy Dental Study: Patient Experience to learn more about what patients expect from their dentist experiences.
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