Many patients think that cleaning a dental appliance is a difficult, expensive and lengthy procedure. You will be surprised to know that in actual fact it’s a very simple process and requires very little time and little expenditure. Cleaning and washing your dental appliance is as straightforward as using a toothbrush and a typical liquid detergent. Sometimes the most simple methods and chemicals can result in the most effective and impressive result. By using an ordinary toothbrush and small amounts of liquid detergent, you can be rest assured that it will not cause any damage or future problems to your dental appliance.
For patients out there that feel a toothbrush and liquid detergent is not enough, we also provide low-priced electronic denture sterilisers and dental cleaning products specifically manufactured and selected for your avail.
These products are accessible to each patient as a replacement to the usual technique of a toothbrush and liquid detergent.
To ensure you with healthy oral care, washing and cleaning your dental appliance straight after a meal will ultimately grant you a longer lasting dental appliance.
It’s best that the dental appliance is cleaned in a plastic contain to prevent brakeage if they’re accidentally dropped. It’s also suggested that a towel be used to ensure grip and less tension when holding them as well as placing a soft material at the base of your sink or simply filling the sink up with water to ensure the reduction of heavy contact if it were to slip out of the patients hand whilst cleaning.
Denture Care
These days, very advanced materials are used to manufacture dental appliances and are designed to give the upmost natural aesthetic appearance to the patient with fantastic functional results.
Just like natural teeth, dental appliances must be cleansed of plaque, food particles and other debris and fluids. Dental appliances must always be kept in the best condition possible, which in turn will help oral tissues remain healthy and tolerable for the appliance activity and pressures.
Remember to cleanse your dentures with a non-abrasive brush and liquid detergent, and followed with a thorough rinse. This process should be methodically completed after every meal. Soaking them in denture solution overnight is prudent. This also allows your gums to exfoliate and re-cleanse whilst sleeping.
Cleaning Methods
It’s extremely important that you use the correct utensils to carefully and thoroughly clean your dental appliance. As a practicing practitioner for over 20 years I’ve been a witness to a numerus amounts of damaged dental appliance. Most of which were caused by vigorous brushing techniques. Forcible brushing can result in dull looking dental appliances and can also minimise the life expectancy of them. In order to keep your dental appliance looking new, it’s suggested one must purchase a soft bristled denture brush. These brushes decrease any scratching on the acrylic and enamel.
There are very simple steps that a patient should approach in terms of keeping themselves and their dental appliances infection free.
A patient should ALWAYS take not of the type of infection control the practitioner is using. It’s necessary that practitioners wear gloves at ALL times. Gloves ensure total hygiene to the patient and themselves. The practitioner should also be wearing a mask and clinic/laboratory coats. It’s expected that each and every practitioner have anti-bacterial infection control liquid detergents and chemicals to their disposal. Chemicals such as glutaraldehyde, ethyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, sodium hypochlorite, iodophores and iodines, phenolics and formaldehyde should be used within the clinic.
It’s crucial that practitioners carefully and thoroughly sterilise each and every one of their utensils used in the clinic. This ensures and prevents the transfer of any form or bacteria’s or infection from one patient to another. Practitioners can use the methods of pressured hot air, industrial ultrasonic machines or personal take home mini sterilising machines.
Patients can also do their bit once their dental appliance is at home with them. It’s highly recommended and expected that partial denture wearers clean their teeth and their dentures as often as they can. Bacteria can be found in any crevice, and it’s important that patients be made aware of these problems. The contact between a tooth and a denture is the home for bacteria and calculus. It’s crucial that you take the steps to ensure your oral hygiene is constantly monitored to prevent major infections and breath odours.
Examinations/Consultations
Before a denture can be created and placed, a patient needs to have an initial consultation and evaluation by a Denture practitioner who will undertake a comprehensive dental examination and a medical and dental history.
First visit we will record your history, diagnose your situation, assess your needs and make a basic prognosis of what is expected from practitioners pin of view as well as the patients. Usually, oro-facial measurements are pursued, crucial for establishing bite and TMJ relationship, as well as assessing the correct and natural dentition sizes shapes and colure of the future dental appliance to construct a natural dental appliance to suite the face. It is utterly important to conduct a full Clinical examination of the total oral cavity including all soft and hard tissues taking particular attention of the edentulous portions and implant placement regions.
Your medical history is crucial to us and must be expressed to the practitioner before any treatment. At first meeting expect to forward to us any prescribed and/or non-prescribed medication that you may be taking at time of your appointment.
Extraction and Toothloss
There are always many reasons why teeth may have been extracted. These reasons are due to poor oral health conditions, stemming from poor personal oral hygeine or simply by some sort of forcefull damage to the physiology of the jaw and general morphology of the dentition.Tooth loss is caused due to many factors, such as poor hygiene, lack of calcium and other health problems.
Oral Care
It’s very important to understand that your dental appliances are not just the only things you need to consider and look after when it comes to oral care. Gums, ridges and general mouth health care are things that should always be looked at. The very simple act of rubbing your gums with your finger or a soft toothbrush, washing your mouth out with salty water and/or using aloe Vera Vaseline will help prevent nasty infections and bad breath.
It’s also very important that you do not sleep with your dental appliances. It’s crucial that you remove them to give your mouth, supporting muscles and tissues a chance to relax and distress. Patients that chose not to take this advice on board have a greater risk of suffering from major oral infections. It can also lead to fatal diseases and incurable oral cancers. Gum and tissue deterioration is also at high risk as there is a huge increase in bacteria inside the mouth.
To prevent such nasty complications, it’s advised that you seek an oral examination at least twice a year to ensure that things are running smoothly. This examination will not only provide you with comfort and understand, but it will also give your practitioner the chance to correct and or medicate you if they are any major problems or concerns.
Dental appliances that are not fitted properly can devastatingly lead to incurable oral cancers. A dental specialist must be arranged for an oral check-up to ensure all problems are addressed as quickly as possible.
Examinations are highly recommended as they gift you with the knowledge of your oral health and position.
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Soreness in the jaw, underneath the tongue and on the palate can leave you feeling fullness in the mouth due to swelling.
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It’s crucial that patients be made aware that under no circumstance should he or she wear a dental appliance for an extensive time or whilst sleeping. Excessive wear of the dental appliance could lead to a number of different problems. These problems may involve, improper support, which can distress the jaw mechanism, commonly leading to temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder. This should not be taken lightly as it could disrupt sleeping patterns and cause the patient immense pain.
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It’s important that patients understand that it is not acceptable to consume excessive amounts of alcohol and smoke a large number of cigarettes if they are under the influence of prescribed medication for soreness, infections or pains inside the mouth. The consumption of any of these products could prolong or intensify any painful oral issues.
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Patients must understand that they should never leave an infection or slight pain untreated. By not having the problem sourced and carefully examined, it could potentially lead to a worse problem, creating future disturbances.
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At initial stages of the insertion of the newly made dental appliance, patients need to understand that the mouth will need to learn how to adjust to having the appliance inside of it. If the patient finds that they are having problems and issues due to pain, please make sure you seek advice from the practitioner to guarantee an easier denture lifestyle.
