A lower denture that stays where you put it

An upper denture has the palate to seal against, and suction does much of the work. A lower denture has none of that — it sits on a horseshoe ridge with a tongue underneath it and cheek muscles either side, all of which move constantly.

That is not a fitting failure. It is anatomy, and it is why so many people with a perfectly well-made lower denture still cannot eat comfortably with it. The bone also resorbs over the years once teeth are gone, so the ridge it sits on gradually flattens and the problem compounds.

Anyone who tells you a conventional lower full denture will feel like natural teeth is overselling it.

Two implants in the front of the lower jaw, with attachments the denture clips onto, stop it moving. That is the entire proposition, and for most people it is the difference between tolerating a denture and forgetting about it.

You can bite into things again. You stop thinking about it in restaurants. The adhesive goes in the bin. It still comes out at night for cleaning, and it is still a denture — but it behaves.

Four implants gives more stability again, and a fixed bridge on implants is the option where nothing comes out at all. Cost rises accordingly, and two is genuinely enough for a great many people.

Worth being clear: we do not place implants surgically. That is done by an oral surgeon or periodontist we have worked with for years, and we arrange the referral.

What we do is the planning, the decision about how many implants and where, and then designing and fitting the denture that attaches to them — which is where the comfort and the bite are actually determined.

You deal with us throughout. We coordinate the surgical appointment rather than handing you a phone number, and we see you afterwards for every adjustment.