Where and How Do I Find A Good Denture Maker

Finding the kind of denture maker you want to deal with is an enormous undertaking. First you want one who is capable of actually making dentures with their own hands. Dental professionals who only "sell" dentures, like 99% of practicing Dentist's, are at a disadvantage do to their lack of denture creation training. Since the late 1950's Dental Colleges ceased to require dental students to hands on learn how to create dentures. That is one reason Dental licensing boards do not require a person testing for a License to practice Dentistry to actually make a denture as part of the licensing exam...Denturist's, who are not dentist, but are trained to be denture specialist, are required to actually create a denture for a live patient as part of their licensing exam...and that of course is because the testing Board knows that Denturist have extensive training and education in hand crafting the highest quality dentures possible and do so direct for and to the patient. There are no middle men between the Denturist and the patient.
Now, one place to search for a place to get good dentures ( when your state doesn't have licensed Denturist's), is to ask a Dental Technician who creates dentures for Dentist. Dental Technicians provide their services through a Dental Laboratory. Dentist's send denture impressions to the dental Laboratory with instructions that tell the Dental Technician the size, shape and color of denture teeth to be used...The Dentist also sends what is called a "Bite Registration"...which is made of wax and is intended to be used by the Technician to properly position the plaster models of the patients gums on an artificial metal jaw. This artificial jaw holds the models in what is supposed to be the proper jaw alignment of the patient as dictated by the "Bite Registration" the dentist has provided.....If however the Bite Registration in not accurate the dentures will be out of alignment and will not function properly or look right.
So, look up a the list of Dental Laboratories in your phone book. Call at least five in your area. When they answer the first thing you say is that you know they are not allowed to make dentures for the public and that isn't what your calling about...What you would like is their help in finding a dentist or denture maker who they consider the best they make dentures for. And that you understand that they create dentures for Dentist and know who they would send their mother or father to if necessary.
Now, not all Lab Technicians will talk to you as they will fear that one of their dentist customers is having you check to see if they recommend them, and if they don't they might lose the dentist as a customer...Other Lab Tech's will talk to you and they should feel good about telling you who they would recommend....Also, I suggest you go to the Internet site in your state that list complaints and ratings of licensed dentist....You can also ask the Better Business Bureau if they have had complaints about any dentist you may be considering...and if the state your in has licensed Denturist's, you can secure the same information regarding them.
If you have a new set of dentures that your unhappy with, and the person you bought them from is not showing an interest in making you happy or correcting an obvious mistake you see with the dentures, you can do the following. (1) You go to another denture provider and get an evaluation of the dentures your unhappy with...When you make that appointment, "DO NOT" say your unhappy with another denture maker and you want to see what's wrong with your dentures...NO NO No...you only tell the receptionist that your dentures have been bothering you and you would like to have them looked at to see what you can do to get them to feel right,look right and work right. It's also a good idea to take a friend or mate along to listen to the evaluation....If the evaluation is that the dentures are made wrong, get the finding in writing if possible. Then you can confront the original denture maker who you paid. If he or she declines to make things right by making new dentures or giving you a refund, you then file a complaint with the State Dental Board.
When you file a complaint with the State Dental Board they will ask the dental "Peer Review Board" to assign a neutral dentist to examine and evaluate your complaint by examining the dentures. If he or she agrees with your complaint, the Peer review Board has the power to require the original dentist to do one of three things, (Remake the dentures)...(Pay another dentist to make you new ones) or (Give you a refund)...Of course you always have the right to hire an attorney and file an action against the original dentist.
One caution I would like you to adhere to..."Do Not" judge a dentist or denture maker "only" by what someone else tells you about the dentures they got from one. People and their mouths are like fingerprints, no two are alike. Every denture is a one of a kind, and just because someone else had great success or poor success with theirs, doesn't mean your going to get the same. Dentures can be made wrong and dentures can be made right. People can be right and people can be wrong...meaning their are some people the good Lord couldn't make dentures they would be happy with. People with emotional stress issues seldom ever find happiness with dentures until they deal with what ever it is that's causing their emotional stress issues...If they are gritters and grinders, it's not the dentures fault, they have stress issues. I have written an article on that issue called, "EDS" Emotional Demure Stress"....it's worth reading. If you need to asked additional questions contact me at: thedenturepro@aol.com  
F.Spiva Jr. CDT MDT CD (The Denture Pro.)