Costs

The cost of a dental prosthesis can vary within a certain range from dentist to dentist, but is subsidized by the health insurance company. The subsidy of the health insurance company can be increased by keeping a bonus booklet. The total amount is made up of three pillars.

These are the dentist’s fee costs, the costs for the laboratory and material costs. For the upper jaw you can expect an average of 430-500 €, of which the insurance company covers about 300 € (without bonus). If a total prosthesis is needed in both the upper and lower jaw, the costs are about 1200 €.

After deducting the health insurance contribution, there are between 500€ and 700€ own contribution. The co-payment can be increased if you wish to have special treatment methods. For example, a special electronic temporomandibular joint determination can be carried out or the modeling of the prosthesis can be refined.

Palatal Plate

A denture is equipped with a palatal plate in the upper jaw. There is no such plate in the lower jaw because the tongue must still have enough space. Due to the palatal plate the upper jaw prosthesis also holds better than the lower jaw prosthesis.

The prosthesis often has to be relined or newly made. Due to the palatal plate in the upper jaw, the denture has a larger contact surface there, can include more of the palate and thus obtains a higher strength. Without the palatal plate, the prosthesis would not have sufficient support. A disadvantage of the palatal plate, however, is that it makes the prosthesis “bulkier”, so it can be perceived as more uncomfortable to wear, it covers several glands and has a negative effect on the sense of taste because a large area of the mouth is covered with plastic.

Denture without palatal plate

For many users of upper jaw dentures, the palatal plate is not only difficult to get used to, but many patients cannot cope with it at all. If there are no own teeth in the upper jaw, it is not possible to create a palate-free prosthesis. In this case, the palatal plate is there to ensure that the prosthesis is held in place in the upper jaw bone and to distribute the chewing load evenly.

The only option for an edentulous jaw to wear a palate-free prosthesis is the insertion of implants. This requires 6 implants in the upper jaw to ensure the perfect statics for a prosthesis without palatal plate. In the edentulous jaw a palate-free version can be created with a telescopic prosthesis, provided that 6 or more teeth are still ground as telescopes.

The grinded teeth get a conical metal crown, which serves as the primary element. The secondary element is the prosthesis, which in turn contains telescopes that fit exactly on the ground teeth. Thus, the prosthesis is removable but palate-free, and it provides the patient with a well-preserved restoration in the upper jaw, comparable to an implant-supported prosthesis.

Furthermore, it is also possible to combine remaining teeth and implants to create a palate-free prosthesis. Again 6 supporting elements are necessary. If there are less elements, whether tooth or implant, the prosthesis must have a palatal part to ensure statics and hold. With prosthesis variants with clasps there is almost always a palatal plate available.