Temporary teeth: what you actually wear while an implant heals
A flipper is a light plate with a tooth on it, held by a wire or resin clasp. A flexible denture bends. Neither is for chewing, and both are the difference between waiting comfortably and hiding.
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The months between placing a fixture and fitting a crown are not spent with a gap. This page is about what fills it, and it is the part of an implant plan patients ask about least and notice most.
Resin and wire flipper
A thin resin plate carrying one or more teeth, retained by clasps that grip the adjacent teeth. Light, quick to make, and easy to adjust. The photographs on this page show one from both sides, including the fitting surface, which is not usually shown to patients and probably should be.
Metal wire flipper
The same idea with metal clasps, which are thinner and grip more precisely than resin ones at the cost of being visible if they fall in the wrong place.
Flexible denture
A partial denture made from a flexible material rather than rigid acrylic. It bends, which the photograph on this page shows literally, and it avoids the metal clasps entirely, which is why it is chosen for appearance.
- Resin and wire flipper
- Light, quick, adjustable. Clasps are resin or wire.
- Metal wire flipper
- Thinner, more precise grip. Clasps can show.
- Flexible denture
- Bends. No metal clasps. Chosen for appearance.
- All three
- Removable, and none is a chewing tooth.
- Worn for
- The months a fixture takes to integrate.
Clinical photographs
This article is information, not medical advice, and reading it does not create a doctor-patient relationship. The Seoul Glow is a registered facilitator: we coordinate care, we do not practise medicine and we do not decide what treatment is right for you. No outcome can be guaranteed by anyone. Discuss any procedure with a licensed physician who has examined you.
