I'm almost 57 years old. I'm missing one uppermolar (second from the end) which has been unreplaced, and anotherwhich has been replaced by a bridge. One of my upper front teeth has acrown due to an accident as a child. All of my molars are extensivelyfilled; my teeth are discolored and refuse to whiten, and they breakeasily. For many years I've wanted to just get rid of the whole mess andreplace them with dentures, but every dentist I talk to says it's avery bad idea; in fact my current dentist has said that if I want toget dentures I'll have to go to someone else because he can'tconscientiously do it. One comment he's made is that my narrow lower jay would quickly maketrouble without teeth to hold its mass. Can you comment on this?

Dr. Slota: Keeping your own teeth is always the best solution.  Your dentist is correct.  However if you really want dentures you probably could find someone to make a set for you. The problems are that when you have them made there is no going back to your own teeth. Implants are expensive and were mostly brought about because people were unhappy with their dentures fit and function. You may be best off investing in your current teeth.