If your teeth are hopeless and you want them all extracted, you may want what is called an immediate denture. This is a denture that is placed in your mouth the same day that the teeth are extracted, so that you don't have to go six weeks or longer without any teeth.

It ends up costing more than it would if you waited before having the denture made. The reason is that, when it is made, it fits your jaw closely, but not exactly. Therefore, it will need to be relined sometime within the first six months, and that will be an extra expense.

A lower immediate denture is placed right on top of the bony ridge on the lower jaw. There are usually sutures present.

And while generally it is reasonably comfortable, there can be some spots that are temporarily very sore. Because the fit is approximated, there can be places where the immediate denture rubs against your gums when it is first placed, which will be very sore until the dentist can adjust it.

Since it covers over the surgical site and the tooth sockets, it helps keep that tender surgical area from becoming irritated, much as a bandage would.

It's important, when you have an immediate denture, that you follow the dentist's instructions carefully. One key instruction is that you cannot remove it by yourself, even for just a few minutes, until your dentist tells you it's all right. Because of the tendency that the tissue underneath has to swell, if you take it out for very long, you may never get it back in again. By the time you get to the dentist to get it placed back in, trying to adjust it will be hopeless. So consider this a word to the wise.