After Care Answers

We have done our best to provide you with well fitted, functional, and esthetic artificial dentures. We feel confident that after a few weeks of becoming adjusted to the new dentures, you will have years of satisfaction and use from them.

The following information will be helpful to you at this time.

Your first few weeks
New dentures always feel strange when first placed in your mouth. Several days or even a few weeks will be required for you to feel accustomed to them.

Sore spots
Usually, your mouth will have a few "sore spots" after wearing the dentures for 24 hours. Don't worry about these areas. They can be relieved with very little effort on your next appointment. Another appointment abou 7 days later will usually eliminate any other sore areas.

Chewing
The new "bite" or occlusion will not feel comfortable for a period of days. We will adjust the contacting surfaces of your teeth after 24 hours and again in about one week after the dentures have "settled" into place.

Cleaning the dentures and your mouth
Your dentures can be cleaned easily by using a denture brush and a mild toothpaste such as "Complete" by Vick Chemical or regular hand soap. Use special care to clean parts of the partial that contact any natural teeth. Both the partial denture and the natural teeth must be kept very clean on a daily basis to reduce the chance of new dental decay starting. Denture soaks are also useful for the denture. Brush your gums with a regular toothbrush once per day to toughen and clean them. You may leave the dentures in or out of your mouth at night depending on your preference. If they are out of your mouth, leave them soaking in water.

The future
Your jaw bones and gums shrink up to 1/32 of an inch per year when your teeth are missing. This is one of the main disadvantages of artificial dentures. Because of this shrinkage, you should plan to have your dentures and oral tissues evaluated atonce a year by us. We will inform you when relining or rebasing of the dentures is necessary. Wearing ill-fitting dentures for too long without refitting can cause severe bone loss and very serious oral diseases.