While I was researching patient satisfaction studies on dentures, i came across this article on a ‘denture’ that was swallowed by a patient but was later retrieved by endoscopy. The ‘denture,’ also known as a ‘fixed denture’ appears to have failed, debonded and then swallowed while the patient was asleep.
Read the abstract and download the entire article here
This underscores the importance of maintenance care if you have any form of a prosthesis in your mouth. Regardless of its classification of bonded, fixed, removable, etc., a regularly scheduled maintenance is de rigeure, even with implant retained dentures or screw retained implant prosthetics. All patients with prosthetics should be on a three to four times a year follow-up interval to ascertain that all is in good health. With All-on-4® prosthetics, an ideally trained Registered Dental Hygienist may help clean the fixed prosthetic device AFTER it has been retrieved by a qualified dental professional. Those fixated prosthetics will need the retentive screws that hold them in replaced, typically after they’ve been removed for maintenance for about a year and a half.