How to Take Care of Your Dentures

While dentures are an adequate replacement to your natural teeth, proper denture care is important for the health of your mouth and longevity of your dentures.

Your dentures are expensive prosthesis designed to fit properly inside your mouth. Dentures are common removable dental prosthesis that most people choose to replace their missing teeth. Since dentures can break easily, you want to be careful with them. Handle your denture over a soft towel to prevent denture from falling on hard surfaces when handling them. If you drop your dentures, they can be rinsed with water and clean with a soft towel or brush.

Caring for Dentures

Like your natural teeth, dentures require routine cleaning to keep them functioning properly and look aesthetically pleasing. Unlike your natural teeth, using toothpaste to clean your dentures is not a good choice. Toothpaste is abrasive and can create scratches where food debris and plaque can build up. Use a soft bristle brush designed to clean dentures to remove food stain and plaque that can build up overtime. The denture surface should be brush gently once a day and exercise care not to damage the plastic or bend attachments when brushing. To keep the pink portion of your denture visually beautiful, you avoid using bleach because bleach can whiten the pink portion of your dentures. There are many products available at your local drugstore to help clean your dentures. When not wearing your dentures, they need to be kept moist to prevent the resin from drying out or lose their shape. The dentures can be soak in denture cleansing solution or just plain water. However, avoid soaking dentures in hot water as this can warp the shape of your dentures.

Consulting Your Dentist

You should consult your dentist if your dentures become uncomfortable to wear. Daily use of dentures can wear them down and will need to be relined, rebased, or replaced. Overtime your gum tissue will change and the denture fit will become loose and will move around in your mouth causing discomfort. The dentures will need to be relined. Relining consist of adding new base to the tissue side of your denture to ensure a comfortable fit. Having the dentures relined will keep them functioning properly and comfortable in your mouth. Likewise, rebasing is done when the denture base has worn considerably more than the denture tooth. Rebasing restores the denture base with new resin to provide a stable denture without replacing the denture tooth. When dentures cannot be restored, your dentist will recommend replacing the denture.

Good denture care can prolong the life of your denture and keep your mouth and gum line comfortable when wearing them.

Be sure to schedule an appointment with California Dental Group by calling (800) 407-0161 if you have any questions about your dentures.