Dental Prosthetics in Klaipėda

Dentist Lauras Smilgevičius on dental prosthetics:

Dental prosthetics is one of my favourite areas of work. Because it is difficult, but at the same time terribly interesting. I will not talk about the types of dentures, their shapes and materials. That can be discussed during a consultation, and there is endless information on the subject online. I am more interested in another aspect, which I would like to share.

When patients face serious dental problems, they often waste a lot of energy and money simply because they flounder without a clear system or treatment plan. When there is chaos in the mouth, what is really needed is a proper engineering project. So I believe the first and most serious task falls to the prosthetic dentist, who is responsible for the architecture of the mouth, so that not only the aesthetics but also the function are good, the restorations last a long time, and the treatment itself runs smoothly. In our clinic that task usually falls to me.

I always say that good treatment begins with assessment and full diagnostics. Only then, together with the patient, taking their finances and other circumstances into account, do we draw up a treatment plan, around which it is then easy to coordinate the work of the whole team of dentists. We must also not forget that the dental technician plays a very important role in prosthetic work.

Patients who lose one tooth often do not worry about it: 'well, there is still plenty to chew with.' But this attitude is mistaken, especially if more teeth are lost, because an empty space does not stay empty for long. Something will always want to take it, and that is how the cycle of problems begins. The teeth start to live a life of their own, they drift and tilt. Once the uncontrolled process gains pace, the problems can travel beyond the mouth too: the jaw starts to shift, the smile becomes crooked, the face turns asymmetrical.

The position of the lower jaw joint changes, the muscle tone changes, the person's posture changes, and this can lead to neck pain, back pain or shoulder numbness. We are not assembled from separate blocks: heart and vessels here, a leg there, an arm over there, and a few teeth tossed somewhere at the front. No, in the human body everything is connected, and if one system starts to fail, another tries to compensate, but in time it wears out. And then we have a pile of chronic illnesses and a handful of pills. Perhaps I have painted it a little dramatically, but that is how it is.

A decade ago, when I first became interested in how the bite affects other functions of the body (breathing, posture and others), it all seemed rather hard to believe, but now, having examined so many patients, I have no doubts left, and we hear about it more and more often at courses and seminars. So I want to speak about the body as one connected system, to explain it to patients, to educate them and to stay ahead of events, because, as everywhere, prevention is the cheapest and simplest form of treatment.

Dentist Lauras Smilgevičius.