The best way to describe these is:

A 19th century product made for a 21st century consumer.

These were state of the art when a hearing aid was a funnel, which you stuck in your ear and pointed in the direction of the person speaking.

Nothing really significant has been done to upgrade them. They remain what they have always been…prostheses. Like artificial legs are prostheses. The expectations of consumers today have often vastly outstripped the capabilities of dentures. The expectation, which the majority of today’s consumers have, of their new dentures can only be realized when they are combined with a couple of implants in the upper and lower jaw to hold them in place. And the vast majority of denture patients are totally unwilling to pay the price of implants. Thus, you have a recipe for almost guaranteed dis-satisfaction and even outright anger from a large portion of the denture buying public today…2002. People my age…baby boomers are beginning to get dentures. And my generation is the most demanding and dare I say it…spoiled…generation ever. I know, I am one of them!!!

Even when told how bad dentures can be. The patient in the chair will surely forget the warnings made by the dentist by the time the dentures are actually delivered to him. And he will be angry at the dentist for doing this to him. Something he came to the dentist voluntarily to buy. Something the dentist did not want to do in the first place.

Nowadays they can be made of flexible material, which improves them sometimes, but sometimes makes them worse. The flexible dentures, which are coming to market in 2002, are not suitable for every case. But they can be VERY comfortable! (There, I actually said something good about dentures ;-)

Cast metal-framed partial dentures deserve special mention. They are quite a bit more expensive than regular partial dentures. But they are much better fitting. And much more temperamental. Like thoroughbred race horses compared to plow mules. There is a niche for them still in today’s 21st century market. But if you leave them out for more than a week at a time, you may never get them to go back in. They are that un-forgiving. But they can be quite comfortable!