How To Make Your Dentures Last As Long As Possible
Posted on: 7 June 2018
According to the last country-wide survey, approximately 20% of adult Australians have either lost all of their teeth or wear at least one or two dentures. With such a huge percentage of the population using the prosthetics, there is shockingly little attention to the industry in the general public. People can face certain stigmas when it is found out that they use dentures, especially if they are younger; however, dentures are a perfectly normal and common solution to often-unavoidable illness or injury. While there is nothing wrong with using dentures, the primary aim is for them to be indistinguishable from normal teeth in both function and design, so here are a few simple ways to make your dentures last as long as possible.
Handle With Care
While it is easy to think of your dentures as indestructible replacements of faulty originals, the truth is that they can be very fragile. Dentures have been known to chip and break from a waist-height drop onto a tiled floor. You rarely handle your dentures for too long outside of your mouth, but remember when you do to think about every move you make with them.
Brush Regularly
Again, there remains a common misconception around dentures being a sort of "upgrade" to normal teeth and that they therefore do not require the same level of attention regarding their cleaning. It can come as a shock to find out that the opposite is really true and that, due to your dentures having exposure to elements outside your mouth, they can build up bacteria much quicker. Brushing will help minimise the growth of bacteria, and it must be done twice a day at least. Remember to never use whitening toothpastes, as they can alter the colour of your dentures.
Use Your Dental Soaking Solution
When you were originally given your dentures, you no doubt had a plan for a constant schedule of using your dental soaking solution in conjunction with brushing. Over time it is easy to get complacent in this daily routine, but the solution your dentures soak in helps strengthen them and repair the daily toll your mouth takes out on your dentures. If you find that the dental soaking solution is not functioning as it should or used to, then contact your dentist about this.
Regular Checkups With Your Dentist
When you get dentures, you are entering into a new journey in life that you won't ever get off from again. The dentures are part of your life now, and that means you must be more involved in their upkeep. The normal advice of six months between dentist visits does not apply to you, and you should at the very least be visiting twice as much as regular patients. This will catch any structural damage in your teeth early, as well as giving you a chance to discuss any problems with your current oral hygiene regime.
Denture Repairs
If these precautions fail and you can tell your denture has suffered either a chip or a full break, you should take it immediately to your dentist for denture repairs. They can fix your dentures in a variety of different ways that respond to different levels of breakage in your dentures. This can range to a full new set of dentures to simply reshaping or evening out your current ones. Depending on how good your healthcare plan is regarding your dentures, you should be able to get these repairs covered. Remember a damaged denture is not the end of the world, and in many cases the repairs can put the dentures in a better condition than they were before any damage. It helps to go to a dentist that specialises in dentures, as they will have the most experience and best chance of returning your smile to its past glory.
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