Mr Jason R Petley is a male Dental Prosthetist who speaks French and Italian (as well as English).
I moved to Townsville at the beginning of 2020 from the Gold Coast with my partner, and quickly fell in love with the area - both of us being avid nature enthusiasts and SCUBA divers. We both hope one day to see a crocodile swim down the Strand, something that many locals promised us was a regular occurrence when we first got here.
Shortly after arriving, I joined Absolutely Dental as their in-house Dental Prosthetist and have since enjoyed being a part of a multidisciplinary holistic healthcare team.
I am one of the few Dental Prosthetists in Australia to have graduated with a Bachelor of Dental Prosthetics.
A Dental Prosthetist works as an independent practitioner in the assessment, treatment, management and provision of patient removable prostheses. Dental prosthetists are registered nationally with the Dental Board of Australia, the same board that registers dentists, dental hygienists, dental and oral health therapists and dental specialists. They are subject to the same registration requirements, guidelines and codes of practice as other members of the dental team.
Dentures are required to restore lost function - even if you're missing just one tooth, your chewing ability can become compromised, making it difficult to eat all of the nutrient-rich foods necessary for good health. Having one or more missing teeth can also put you at a higher risk for oral infections, including gum disease.
Natural teeth provide a "freeway space" of roughly 2–3 mm which is partially maintained as a result of the teeth limiting any further closure past the point of maximum intercuspidation.
When there are no teeth present in the mouth, the natural vertical dimension of occlusion is lost and the mouth has a tendency to overclose. This causes the cheeks to exhibit a "sunken-in" appearance and wrinkle lines to form at the commissures.
