Dentures in the Mississauga area run about $900 to $3,300 per arch. The Canadian Dental Care Plan covers some of them, and its rules on frequency, preauthorization and implants are set out below.
This page also sets out what a denture will not do. Call (905) 821-8632 or book online.
What a denture is made of
The base is acrylic, coloured to match gum tissue. The teeth sit in that base and are acrylic too on most dentures.
A partial denture is built differently depending on what it has to do. An all-acrylic partial denture is the simplest and the least expensive. A cast metal partial denture has a slim alloy framework running through it, which makes it thinner and stronger and costs more. Flexible nylon partial dentures exist as a third option.
Partial dentures hold on with small clasps that grip your remaining teeth. On front teeth a clasp can show. Ask about that at the planning stage, because the design decides it.
An upper complete denture covers the roof of your mouth. That surface is what creates the suction holding it up, and it is the reason an upper denture holds better than a lower one. A lower complete denture rests on a narrow ridge of gum and bone with your tongue moving beside it, which gives it far less to hold onto.
Dentures also support your lips and cheeks from behind. Lose a full arch and go without, and the face sinks around the mouth over the following years.
The four kinds of denture
The first two describe how much they replace. The second two describe when they are made.
Complete dentures replace an entire upper or lower arch. They rest on the gum and the bone ridge under it. An upper one also covers the roof of the mouth, and that plate over the palate is what creates the suction holding it up. It is also why food can taste different for the first few weeks.
Partial dentures fill gaps where some natural teeth remain. Those teeth carry part of the load, so their condition decides how well the denture works.
Immediate dentures are fitted the same appointment your teeth come out, so you do not go without. The gum and bone change shape a great deal as they heal underneath.
An immediate denture is a bridge across the healing period, not the finished article. It needs a reline or remaking once the gum settles. That is expected and planned for. An immediate complete denture also costs more than a conventional one, on every price list that separates the two.
Conventional dentures are made after the gum has healed. That means a stretch of weeks without those teeth, and a better fit at the end because the denture is made to a healed ridge.
Implant-retained dentures are a separate treatment with a separate price and a separate set of rules. This page does not cover them. Read dental implants for how implants work here.
Who a denture suits, and who it does not
A denture suits you if several teeth or a whole arch are missing and you want the most teeth replaced with the least intervention. It suits you if surgery is not appropriate or not wanted. It suits you if the denture you have has gone loose, worn or uncomfortable.
Cost is a legitimate reason to choose one, and nothing to apologise for.
Four things make a denture harder to succeed with:
- Heavy smoking. It slows healing after extractions and worsens the tissue a denture sits on.
- A dry mouth. Saliva is what holds an upper denture up. Medications that dry the mouth make a denture harder to wear.
- Very little ridge left. Years without teeth flatten the bone, and a flat ridge gives a lower denture almost nothing to grip.
- No intention of cleaning it daily. A denture left dirty causes problems faster than natural teeth do.
What gets sorted first
The plan starts with what the exam finds. Active gum disease, decay in the remaining teeth and teeth with a poor outlook all change it. Some of that is treated before any impression is taken, and some teeth come out first.
Read about dental exams and checkups and gum disease treatment.
Missing teeth and want to know your options? Call (905) 821-8632 or book online.
What happens, appointment by appointment
A denture is made in stages, and each stage is checked before the next one starts.
- Exam and plan. What is missing, what remains, and the state of the gum and bone underneath. X-rays where they are needed.
- Extractions and healing, for anyone who needs teeth out first. The gum needs weeks to settle before a conventional denture is made. How many weeks depends on how many teeth came out and how you heal.
- Impressions. A first set to make a custom tray, then a second more accurate set taken in it.
- Bite registration. We record how your jaws meet, so the teeth end up in the right place.
- Choosing the teeth. Shade and shape, against your face and any teeth you still have.
- Try-in. You see the teeth set in wax and say what you think before anything is finished.
- Fitting, then adjustment visits over the following weeks.
Speak up at the try-in. Changing how the teeth look is easy at that appointment and difficult after.
From first impression to fitting is commonly 4 to 8 weeks for a conventional denture. Extractions add healing time on top.
An immediate denture skips that wait. The trade-off is the reline that follows once the gum has settled.
The first few weeks
A new denture feels bulky and strange at first. For most people that eases over the following weeks. Book a check if a denture still feels wrong after a few weeks.
Speech takes practice. Reading aloud to yourself for a few days helps most people. Some sounds take longer to settle. Raise it at an adjustment visit if speech is still a problem.
Eating starts small. Soft food, cut into small pieces, chewed on both sides at once. Chewing on both sides keeps a denture stable in a way one-sided chewing does not.
Sore spots in the early weeks are normal. Putting up with them is not the answer. Come in and we will find the spot and adjust it. Never grind a denture down yourself, because that can take it past repair.
People adapt at different speeds and it says nothing about you.
Living with a denture
Clean it over a sink half filled with water, or over a folded towel. Acrylic cracks when it lands on a hard basin.
Use a denture brush and a denture cleaner. Ordinary toothpaste is abrasive enough to scratch acrylic, and scratches hold stain. Never use boiling water or household bleach on a denture, because both warp and weaken the base.
Take it out at night unless you have been told otherwise, and keep it in water overnight. A study in Gerodontology examined 106 older adults wearing an upper complete denture. It recorded denture stomatitis, an inflammation of the tissue under the plate, in 39.6% of them. Its analysis found the strongest single risk factor was wearing the denture continuously.
Clean your mouth as well as the denture. The gum ridges, the roof of your mouth, your tongue and any natural teeth left.
Some foods stay difficult. Caramel and toffee pull at a denture, popcorn and seeded crackers get underneath it, and a tough cut of meat asks a lot of a lower one. Most people work out their own list.
Keep your checkups. A denture does not end the need for an exam. The ridge, the soft tissue and any remaining teeth all still need looking at, and so does the denture.
Why a denture stops fitting
Bone responds to being loaded. Once natural teeth are gone the ridge underneath slowly loses height and width, and the denture keeps the shape it was made in.
A 2025 scoping review in the Japanese Dental Science Review sets out how this works. Resorption of the ridge is fastest in the first six months after extraction, then continues at a slower pace for the rest of your life. The review names it as a major cause of lost stability and retention, especially in lower complete dentures, and links severe cases to sunken cheeks and a denture that no longer stays put.
So a denture that has gone loose is telling you something about the ridge, not only about the denture. Both get checked.
How to tell whether yours still fits. An upper complete denture should suction to the roof of your mouth and stay there. A lower one floats a little and should still sit still when you talk.
A partial should hold in line with your natural teeth without lifting. Reaching for adhesive more and more is the clearest sign the fit needs assessing.
Relines, rebases and repairs
These are three different jobs and the words get mixed up.
A reline resurfaces the fitting side of the denture so it matches the ridge as it is now. The teeth stay as they are.
A rebase replaces the whole acrylic base and keeps the existing teeth. It is the answer when the base itself has had enough.
A repair fixes something broken: a cracked base, a snapped clasp, a tooth off the front.
Bring the pieces of a broken denture in and leave them as they are. Household glue does not belong in your mouth, and it can take a repairable denture past the point where anyone can fix it.
A denture is replaced when it no longer fits or the base and teeth have worn down. The CDCP sets its own replacement limits at 60 months for a partial acrylic denture and 96 months for most complete ones. That is 5 to 8 years. Most complete denture wearers need at least one reline before then.
What the CDCP actually covers
Two denture providers advertising in Mississauga say dentures cost nothing out of pocket under the plan. The plan's own benefits guide is more specific, and the details are worth having before you commit to anything.
Implant-supported dentures are excluded. The guide states that complete and partial dentures supported by implants, and all implant-related procedures, are exclusions and not covered under the CDCP.
Preauthorization is required before the initial placement of a removable partial denture. Complete overdentures and complete dentures with long term soft liners need it too. Other complete dentures do not.
The plan also sets replacement limits, and they run per arch. A removable partial acrylic denture is covered once in any 60 months. A partial cast denture, once in any 96 months. Most complete dentures sit at once in any 96 months.
An immediate complete denture is covered once per arch, and the plan will consider another complete denture for that arch after 96 months.
Meeting a frequency limit is not the whole test. For a partial denture the plan also expects basic treatment to be done first, which means decay and gum disease under control and the supporting teeth restored.
The CDCP fee for a complete denture or a partial denture includes a three month period of post-insertion care. Adjustments on the day a new denture is delivered sit inside that fee.
One rule catches people out. The CDCP will not cover a new denture within 24 months of a reline or a rebase. That 24-month restriction is separate from the replacement limits above, and a rebase triggers it in the same way a reline does.
The plan is open to all ages for eligible Canadian residents; eligibility requires no access to private dental insurance, the required Canadian tax returns, adjusted family net income under $90,000, and Canadian residency for tax purposes. Covered is not the same as free. Ask what any co-payment would be before treatment starts.
Private plans set their own denture rules, and they differ from each other. Ask your insurer for a predetermination so you have their answer in writing before you commit.
Read more about dental coverage and the CDCP.
What dentures cost in Mississauga
A denture in this area runs about $900 to $3,300 per arch. Clinics publishing figures across Mississauga and the wider GTA land inside that band, with acrylic partials at the bottom and complete or immediate dentures at the top.
Four things affect the cost and move your own number up or down:
- The type of denture, and whether a partial is acrylic or cast metal
- How many teeth are being replaced
- Whether extractions or gum treatment are needed first
- Whether x-rays are needed
Ask whether the exam, the x-rays and any preparatory treatment are inside the quote. Ask the same about the adjustment visits after fitting.
Your written estimate is the number that counts, so ask for it before you agree to anything.
Denture, bridge or implant
| Denture | Bridge | Implant | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed or removable | Removable | Fixed | Fixed |
| Involves surgery | Not the denture itself | No implant surgery | Yes |
| Teeth replaced | One to a full arch | One or two | One or several |
| Effect on neighbouring teeth | Clasps grip them, and they carry part of the load | Reshaped to take the bridge | None |
| Time to complete | Weeks | Weeks | Staged over months |
| CDCP | Covered, with conditions | Not covered | Not covered |
| When it is the wrong choice | A fixed result matters more than cost | The neighbouring teeth are healthy and intact | Bone is insufficient, gum disease is active, or surgery is not appropriate |
Dentures are the option the CDCP helps with. Bridges and implants are both outside the plan.
The teeth a partial denture clasps onto need extra cleaning attention. Plaque collects around a clasp, and decay or gum problems there put the denture at risk as well as the tooth.
Read about dental bridges and dental implants, or see implant, bridge or denture compared.
What a denture will not do
It will not feel the same as the natural teeth you had, because it is not them. Knowing that at the start is the difference between a denture you wear and one that lives in a drawer.
It will not stop the ridge underneath from shrinking. Nothing removable does.
It will not let you chew everything you used to on day one, and a lower complete denture never fully gets there for some people.
It will not stay fitting forever without adjustment. Relines are maintenance, not failure.
It will not remove the need for dental exams.
When to call us rather than wait
Book an appointment for a sore spot that has not settled within a few days, a denture that has gone loose, or a clasp that has broken. A sore spot that is bleeding or getting worse needs to be seen sooner than that.
Call us the same week if you notice any of these:
- An ulcer or sore patch that has not healed in two weeks
- Red, swollen or bleeding tissue under the denture
- White patches that do not wipe away
- A denture that has suddenly stopped fitting after years of being fine
The last one matters because the ridge underneath can change for reasons worth investigating.
Dentistry on Britannia is a general dental practice. Our dentists are general dentists, not specialists in any RCDSO-recognised specialty.