Postoperative Denture Home Care

After the final fitting of your dentures, it it imperative that you keep the dentures in your mouth as often as possible during the first few weeks of use. This step is important for a few reasons. First of all, the denture will feel unfamiliar, so you need to train your cheek muscles and tongue to compensate and work with the new appliance. Secondly, a commitment to wearing your dentures will help you identify any problem fit areas with the prosthetic that need to be corrected by the dentist. In fact, it is important that you meet with your dentist with a few days of receiving your dentures for an adjustment.

It may be necessary for the dentist to adjust the denture more than once. Note that you must never attempt to make any changes to the dentures at home! This a bad idea that may compromise the integrity of entire mouth piece!

What you should expect

Remember, while dentures are an excellent replacement for missing teeth, they will not have the same efficiency that your natural teeth would have. This means that the dentures will cause new sensations, and in some cases produce more saliva than previous. Both of these are normal occurrences. It will take time for your mouth to completely adjust to the new dentures. Most people see a significant reduction in both of these symptoms within a few weeks.

It is also completely normal to initially develop sore spots after wearing the denture the first few days. Don’t worry if you accidentally bite your cheek, lip or tongue; these are missteps that will be corrected once you have become more accustomed to the dentures.

Eating and Speaking

Hard or sticky foods can be difficult on dentures, especially the first few weeks. Many patients find that cutting or breaking up their food into smaller pieces is helpful for chewing. Grinding food with your back teeth rather than your front is advisable. If you use both sides of your mouth, this will help balance the denture.

Dentists recommend that you practice speaking after receiving the dentures. Dentures change the shape of the mouth and consequently have an effect on the way that speech is rendered. Most notably, patients will hear a difference in the way they pronounce some words. To help improve this transition, reading aloud for fifteen minutes twice a day is a good strategy. This will help speed up the adaptation. If you notice any sort of sounds, such as a clicking or whistling, try toslow down your speech. If these noises continue, it may be necessary to consult with your dentist about an adjustment.

Denture Maintenance and Upkeep

Like your normal teeth, dentures require cleaning. To begin, remove your dentures. Then brush your tongue, pallet and gums. This will not only clean those areas, but help improve blood flow and circulation to the mouth.

For Denture home care clean your dentures with soft denture brush and denture cleansing paste. Make sure that you rinse the denture with only cold or warm water. Do not put your dentures in hot water! This can damage the piece! Also, do not use a normal toothbrush and toothpaste on your dentures! Those sort of cleaning materials were not specifically designed for use with dentures. Lastly, dentures should always be kept moist. This means that if your dentures are not in your mouth, they should be left overnight to soak in a denture cleaning solution.

Fitting Notes

It is ok to use a denture adhesive to create a better fit for the prosthetic. Most adhesives are applied to the bottom of the dentures before insertion into the mouth. If a denture does not fit correctly, then don’t try to fix the problem with adhesive or force, as this may break the denture or hurt your mouth. Always remember that annual check ups are important, even if your denture feels fine.

If you would like more information on Denture Home care or you would like to make an appointment, contact Primary Dental Care in Garden Grove, California at 714-537-5700.