Denture Care

Advice and tips on caring for your dentures

• Only your dental professional is qualified to diagnose your oral health and adjust your full or partial dentures.
• Dentures should be brushed inside and outside daily with a soft, large nylon denture tooth brush with round-ended bristles.
• Use denture creams instead of toothpastes, which are too abrasive and will scratch your denture. Rinse with cold water.
• Dentures warp if placed in hot water.
• Inspect your denture regularly for worn teeth.
• Worn and stained dentures can make you look older and cause your dentures to function poorly.
• Discuss all your current medications with your doctor and dental professional.
• Be sure to visit your dental professional regularly.
• Have loose dentures checked immediately as they can cause friction and pressure on the gum tissues and bones.
• When not in use, cover dentures with water or a denture-cleaning solution to prevent them from drying out.
• Most dental insurance policies provide coverage for new dentures every 5 years.

Denture Exams & Maintenance

Your dentures are an investment and require care and attention to maintain their optimum performance. The fit of your dentures will profoundly affect your oral tissues and health. An annual examination by Dr. Said will help ensure your denture is functioning properly.

Medical and dental history

Updating your medical and dental history with any significant changes is critical to maintaining your oral health and well-being. A variety of medical and dental conditions can alter a dentures fit.

Oral exam

Annual examinations can assist in detecting oral abnormalities including cancerous and pre-cancerous lesions. Early detection of these conditions is generally beneficial for treatment.

Tissue and bone

Ill-fitting dentures may cause bone and tissue changes and must be corrected for oral health. Our practice can assess and recommend solutions to suit your personal needs.

Comfort, fit, and integrity of dentures

Bite problems, speech impediments and tissue irritations can be caused by an ill-fitting denture and should be remedied. Leaving this condition unchecked can lead to complicated situations in the future. Dr. Said can assess your dentures for cracks, chips, and broken or loose teeth and suggest solutions.

Overview of exam

• Update of Medical and dental history chart
• An examination of your oral cavity
• Tissue and bone assessment
• Denture stability and bite examination
• Cleaning and polishing of your denture
• Oral hygiene review

Denture Relines

New dentures will typically fit your mouth very securely as it has been designed specifically for your gums. As time goes on, your gum tissues will change, and the denture fit will become looser and, thus, more prone to movement inside your mouth. Having the denture professionally relined every one to two years will keep the denture secure and functional.

Hard Reline

All full dentures should have a hard reline every two years. Said Dental removes a layer of plastic from the denture’s interior surface and then fills the denture with a putty-like material that conforms to the contours of your mouth, creating an accurate impression. The denture is sent to the lab, where it is adjusted to the new shape of your gum tissue. This results in maximum contact between the denture and your mouth.

Soft Reline

Some patients are unable to wear ordinary dentures because of tender gums or sore spots.  Dr. Said may recommend relining the denture with a material that stays pliable for one to two years before needing replacement. This material is much less likely to give the patient sore spots than the standard hard reline acrylic. Patients experiencing these problems may also consider a more permanent solution of implant retained dentures.

Temporary Relines

If dentures have not been serviced in quite some time, a patient’s gums may be red, swollen, or misshapen. This creates problems in taking impressions for a new hard or soft reline and may lead to a denture that would perpetuate the problem.

A temporary or palliative (medicated) reline material may be recommended to allow the inflammation to subside. This reline makes the denture fit much more tightly and is usually soft and pliable. After a few weeks, the gums return to a more normal state. The patient is then ready for his new denture or hard reline.

Denture Rebase & Repairs

Rebase

Rebasing may be recommended when the teeth of your denture are still in good condition and have not worn out compared to the denture base material. Rebasing is the process of replacing the entire acrylic denture base providing a stable denture without replacing the denture teeth. A rebase for a denture may be required if your denture is old or is cracked. A rebase is very similar to relining, the difference being that a rebase replaces all the pink-acrylic denture base material instead of just the lining.

Reasons for the rebase procedure may include:

• Broken or damaged denture
• The weakened or old pink denture base
• Replacement of an immediate denture

Denture Repairs

Various circumstances can lead to a damaged denture and should be addressed immediately. Repairs restore a fractured or damaged denture close to its original condition. Said Dental can often provide denture repair procedures on a same-day basis. Said Dental will advise you of the condition of your denture and recommend steps to prevent further breakage.