Denture Information
Adapting & Adjusting to Dentures
It is imperative that patients understand that their dental appliance is going to need to undergo adjustments over time. If overtime you have found your dental appliance becoming loose, it is crucial you seek advice from your practitioner. Any sign of a loose fitting appliance could instantly create tremendous strain on your jaw and gums, directly making them targets for pressure points. These pressure points are home to sores and possible infections. It’s advised that you regularly visit a dental specialist to prevent possible future infections and complications. This visit could provide you with the knowledge and opportunity to get some information on how your appliance is functioning. It will also grant you the chance to have the appliance repaired, relined or maybe even replaced.
I have my new dentures, now what?
You get home, wash your dentures and finally put them in your mouth. The excitement you built up in the clinic has uncovered all the inconveniences that you now realise you face.
Many new denture wearers are expected to go through a few issues, that in due time will become a problem of the past. These problems include:
- Eating and Chewing your food
- Loss of Appetite
- Speech and phonetic issues
- Sore spots and pain around and on the gums
Now that I have got use to my dentures, will my dental appliance need to undergo any form of possible alterations?
Yes, you will have to re-adapt to the changes, but it will most certainly not take as long as it did originally.
Relining and rebasing are the two main types of alterations known to the dental industry that dental appliances are likely to require over a period of time.
Relining
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The most common alteration.
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Either soft or hard relining material can be used.
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On average, takes around 30 minutes to an hour in the dental laboratory.
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Firstly, the relining material of acrylic resin is secured onto the dental appliance once two or three millimetres of the denture foundation has been removed.
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When the relining material of acrylic resin is placed against the gum, it is still very soft, which allows for the acrylic resin to take shape of the patients gum before it hardens.
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Soft relining material may be for temporary use, due to the patient’s condition, which may involve inflamed gums. Therefore, the dental specialist must use soft relining material to allow for the gums to heal.
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Once the gums have healed the dental specialist may replace the soft relining material with a hard relining material.
Rebasing
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Not so common compared to relining alteration.
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Firstly, an impression is taken of the patient’s gums, where the impressions and dental appliances are taken to the dental laboratory.
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Here, the denture foundation is entirely replaced.
It is evident that the patient will be without their dental appliances, however, only for a short period of time, which would be about a day.
Eating and Chewing
A dental appliance that does not fit correctly and/or appropriately will bring annoyance upon the patient. The patient with ill-fitting dentures may not be able to chew foods with ease and/or will not be able to eat all the different foods. In both situations, digestion and general fine health are affected. The patient may also need to stay away from tough foods, such as, crunchy fruit, uncooked vegetables, and most of all, tough meat. However, the good news is, that all patients will return back to their normal eating routines, as the patient will adapt to their dental appliances.
Speech
Initially, patients may experience difficulty making particular noises and sounds, vocally. Patients who do find speaking difficult after the appliance has been positioned, should most definitely practice their specking skills. The approach to this minor and fixable problem is to, speak quietly, slowly and fluently, which will allow the patient to gradually get their tongue around the specific words. With these exercises taken on board by the patient, they will also help to keep their dental appliance from clicking and clacking whilst speaking, and within time, the patient will no longer have the embarrassing problem apparent.
Adapting and Adjusting Issues
This subject consists of many different issues that need to be discussed with a patient intensely. They involve many variables, such as:
- Patient attitude
- Patient psychology
- Patient expectation
- Oral conditions
- Physiological condition
- Threshold tolerance
- Health Issues
- Pre denture experience
- Misconstrued dialogue
- Practitioner/Patient communication
- Perseverance & persistence
- Correct & Incorrect denture position
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