Denture Care 101

Persons who wear dentures need to make certain changes to their lifestyle in order to be able to adjust to these. For instance, the first few months after you begin to wear your dentures, you must avoid meats, raw vegetables and sticky foods, like candies. Don’t take large bites of your foods and cut up food morsels into tiny pieces. Don’t bite with your front teeth, but with your canine teeth. Avoid pulling your food as you bite. While chewing, keep some food on each side of the mouth to balance the dentures.

Eating in the initial days after you receive your dentures can be hard. Don’t expect to be able to eat the same way that you did with your natural teeth. In fact, eating with your dentures will probably never be the same as eating with your natural teeth. This can also mean that persons with dentures suffer from malnutrition because they cannot eat certain foods that are hard to chew like meats, fruits, and vegetables and nuts. This can cause deficiency of nutrients like zinc, and vitamins E and B6.  Persons with dentures may need supplements that may provide these nutrients.

When you first get your dentures, you will also experience difficulty in speaking. Make an effort to speak slowly in the beginning till you get use to your dentures. Practice speaking words that seem harder to pronounce. You will also notice looseness in your dentures when you cough, sneeze or yawn. This does not mean that your dentures don’t fit properly. New dentures will also stimulate saliva production, so you will notice a greater saliva flow in your mouth.

Over the long run, people who wear dentures may suffer from wearing away of bone in the lower jaw, making the dentures loose and ill fitting. To make sure that you enjoy a healthy life with your dentures, visit your dentist every 6 months at least. Denture wearers who also suffer from diabetes and other illnesses that weaken their immune system should visit their dentist more often. This allows the dentist to look for any symptoms of oral cancer or oral infections, as well as monitor the amount of bone loss.

In rare cases, persons may be allergic to the plastic that is used in the manufacture of dentures. Other people may be allergic to the metal that is found in partial dentures. However, these are rare, and simply changing the plastic or metal should take care of the problem.

In most cases, complications in denture wearers are a result of bad oral hygiene. For instance, dentures need to be taken out at least once a day and stored either in water or denture cleaning solutions. Water or the solution must be changed every day. Clean your dentures twice a day, and also massage the gum tissues to maintain circulation and remove debris. Failing to follow these simple hygiene routines can lead to infections that need treatment. Life with dentures can be comfortable, if patients take special care of their gums, and the dentures.