Walk-in denture repair: Annual Checkups for Dentures?

If you wear complete or partial dentures, you should know how important it is to follow the personal oral health care program that you develop together with your oral health care professional. But just as important is scheduling an annual check-up with your denturist to help maintain or improve your dental health.

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Dentures cutting into gums

Teeth go through a lot of wear and tear every day. Both normal teeth and dentures are prone to damage from accidents or biting down on certain foods. But dentures become increasingly susceptible to cracking and breaking with age, despite following proper denture care guidelines with regards to cleaning and storing them. Some reasons why dentures break include:

They were not a perfect fit to begin with

Loss of bone in the jaw – since you no longer have the roots of your original teeth, you will gradually lose bone in your jaw. Your facial structure will also change, causing the dentures to become ill fitting. Failure to get them replaced as recommended (every 7 years) could lead to embarrassing damage.

Once the denture material begins to wear out, biting into a hard substance that is usually not a problem could cause one of the denture teeth to crack or break. This could also happen when chewing if the denture does not fit well. Additionally, ill-fitting dentures may accidentally fall out of the mouth, or drop to the ground when cleaning, causing them to crack or break.

How long will new dentures hurt?

It can take you about two to four weeks before fully adjusting to your new dentures. It’s normal to feel a little sore or uncomfortable after getting dentures for the first time. Dentures are fabricated from plastic, acrylic, and nylon, which aren’t the softest materials. So it’s only natural that wearing dentures will give you some discomfort. When dentures are first put in place, they could brush against the cheeks or gums in an uncomfortable way that might cause irritation. A person must adjust to new dentures for the first few weeks in order to assess whether or not they are the proper fit.

It is important to note that pain resulting from poorly fitting dentures can lead to infection by eroding the tissues and bones more quickly, so appropriate measures should be taken the soonest possible. If you continue to experience pain after the adjustment period, you should visit your denture specialist to adjust them since it means that the fit is not right.

Solutions for new dentures that hurt my gums

Developments in the design and manufacture of both partial and full dentures has led to a more natural and comfortable product that should not give the wearer any pain. That said, new, poorly fitting, or damaged dentures can cause pain and other conditions of the mouth. In order to address any pain caused by wearing dentures, you should consider the following steps to help eliminate the pain:

Step 1: Hard Denture Reline

Visit your dentist to reline or adjust your new dentures. Your bones and gums continue to change and shrink, after removing your teeth, during the healing process. Since dentures are usually fitted 1-2 months before installing, they may need a few adjustments or relining to when you start wearing them to get the correct fit.

Step 2: Denture repair glue

Denture adhesive can be used to temporarily hold the dentures in your mouth more securely and reduce the pain, though you should consult your dentist as soon as possible. When applying the adhesive, apply 3-4 small daps on the upper denture and spread it evenly around the inside of your lower denture.

Step 3: Test for infection

Ask your dentist to check whether the pain is due to denture stomatitis. Stomatitis is a thrush or yeast infection of the mouth caused by poorly fitting or excessively used dentures, resulting in mouth soreness. Symptoms of an infection include reddened sore areas in the corners of your mouth, red areas on your gums beneath the dentures, and pain.

Step 4: Use an oral pain-relieving ointment

The application of a tropical oral pain-relieving ointment on gums can help to eliminate pain until you visit your dentist. Your dentist can recommend an appropriate ointment based on your medical history.

Step 5: Proper care for your dentures

Dryness or soaking your dentures in hot water can cause them to warp and lose their shape, affecting their shape, and ultimately causing pain. Proper care is essential, so keep them in a denture cleaner solution of container with water when you are not wearing them.

How are dentures repaired?

Dentures are useful for those who have damaged or missing teeth, so they can continue to eat and speak normally, and even smile more confidently. And while recent advancements in technology have made dentures more comfortable and durable than ever, they are still prone to damage and breaking. In such situations, the user should visit his or her dentist to get their dentures repaired.

Some of the things that denture wearers should expect from an annual visit to their dental hygienist include:

1. A thorough examination of your gums and tissues

Wearing dentures can exert extra pressure on the surrounding gums and bone structure, causing gradual but continuing resorption and bone loss. Pressure is also exerted on any original teeth used to support partial dentures. So, it is important that dentures and tissues be examined annually to prevent and minimise tissue inflammation or irritated gums, and reduce tissue or bone loss.

2. Checking the fit of your dentures

Dentures are not self-adjusting. Overtime, wearing of the teeth from chewing, discoloration of the materials, and changes to tissue will affect the fit, comfort, and appearance of your dentures. At the check-up, your denturist will assess the fit of the dentures, the function of the dentures, and the health of the tissue surrounding the dentures to ensure that the dentures are not loose due to changes in your mouth.

3. Professional cleansing of your dentures

Professional cleaning is important to remove plaque that has build-up on your dentures. This not only makes daily cleaning of your dentures easier – to help maintain a dazzling smile, but also lengthens the life of your dentures.

4. Keeping the denture in good adjustment

Unadjusted dentures can cause an improper bite resulting in jaw function alteration. Timely check-ups help to maintain proper relationship between the jaws, and thus prevent the appearance of premature ageing and continue your good appearance.

5. Review of your medical history

Your dental hygienist will also review your medical history to ensure that there are no medical conditions that may affect your treatment. But even more important than checking dental problems is the early detection of oral cancer. Annual check-ups can help you detect oral cancer in its early stages, so you can undergo conservative treatment and avoid radical therapy.

Generally, annual dental check-ups help to maintain healthy oral tissues, resulting in optimum comfort, function, and appearance of long-term denture wearers.

How to heal sore gums from dentures

Chipped or broken dentures can be embarrassing and annoying, but it is not advisable to repair them yourself. Using glue to fix the dentures can lead to further damage caused by powerful solvents in the glue. You may also injure your mouth if your repair attempts result in a distorted denture that is ill-fitting, causing blisters and sores.

If your gums are sore, you should first check for symptoms of an infection, like puffiness, inflammation, or welling. In case of an infection, your denture specialist will recommend some antibiotics for treatment. In case the sore gums are due to a poof fit, then adjusting the dentures is the best remedy.

Home remedy for sore gums from dentures

But before scheduling your denture specialist visit, you may consider the following home remedies for sore gums to ease the discomfort:

Brush your denture as well as your gums and any remaining natural teeth with a gentle toothbrush. It’s crucial to brush your denture because bacteria can grow there and produce plaque, which can lead to the development of oral bacteria. A simple home treatment for cleaning dentures is to soak them in a solution of baking soda and warm water for a few hours. Before using the dentures once more, thoroughly rinse them.
Chew your meal slowly and thoroughly, as quick actions can jar or shock the nerves.
After wearing dentures for a while, regularly rinse your mouth with salt water to calm your gums. At least half a cup of warm water should be mixed with half a teaspoon of salt.

Use denture adhesive to prevent food particles from slipping under your teeth
A gum massage may provide temporary symptom relief.
Cloves steeped in olive oil are one of the oldest pain relievers for superficial discomforts like denture sores. You can topically apply this combination to the gums near the aching places.

Another herbal treatment that can be used to reduce pain is sage. The results should be felt right away if you gargle some sage tea

Broken denture repair cost

There are two ways to get your dentures repaired professionally: take them to your dentist or to a laboratory. Visiting your dentist is the most cautious option, since they can examine the broken pieces to determine whether or not you need an impression to help in either repairing or relining the denture. Sending them directly to a laboratory will get them repaired at a lower cost, but they cannot change the fit. Additionally, you will have to put them in your mouth yourself without the assistance of a dentist, which could be risky considering that new dentures could need some minor adjustments to fit properly.

It will cost you more, but it is better to get your dentures repaired by a dentist. Repairs are usually done on the same day, but reline procedures may take more than 24 hours. As a result, while repairs may cost between $100 and $200, relining will be more expensive at $300 to $500.