Research Outline

Dentures vs. Dental Implants

Goals

The goal is to find out what problems people have with dentures, how they learn about dental implants, how dentists market switching from dentures to implants, and how people perform research on dental implants.

Early Findings

  • Common problems that people experience with dentures include gum irritation, problems speaking, and the dentures slipping around in the mouth.
  • Denture slippage often lessens over time as people train their muscles in their cheeks and tongue to hold the dentures in place. Unfortunately, this can be hard to do as muscles age, causing people to divert to having denture slippage issues.
  • One alternative to traditional dentures are overdentures, which are dentures that are held in place by either a few implants or existing teeth. These don't slip like traditional dentures do.
  • The pros of dental implants include less chance of losing bone in the jaw, durability, and the fact that they are anchored in place so they don't slip and it is easier to eat with them.
  • The cons of dental implants include that it can take up to six months for implants to fully heal, they often require additional dental procedures in the future, and they are much more costly than dentures.
  • This example of a dental implant advertisement from a dentist shows that they combine bulleted pros for dental implants with an informative video. They use the term "revolutionary" to describe the implants.
  • Some dentists address the fears of implants, such as pain, on their websites and in their advertising, like this dentist. This suggests enough people have inquired about the pain for them to put a "myths" section online.