Your new dentures
Your dentist has taken great care in making your new dentures but success depends on you.
It is important to remember that dentures are not teeth and do not work like teeth, nobody is born knowing how to use dentures. Denture wearing is a skill, like all skills it is learned by practice. Don’t be disheartened if you get problems at first.
A denture is a foreign body in the mouth and at first the muscles of cheeks, lips and tongue will tend to reject it. With practice these same muscles will learn to control and use the denture.
To make the learning process as easy as possible:
1. Cut your food up rather smaller than you normally do.
2. Be prepared to take rather more time over meals at first.
3. When chewing put food on both sides of your mouth - this will steady the denture.
4. Don’t try to bite on your front teeth at first - this is a more advanced skill and will take longer to learn.
Just be patient and practise - the only way to learn to use a denture is to use it.
If you have worn dentures before you are already a skilled denture wearer and life will be easier for you than for someone learning for the first time. It will however take a little while for you to adapt to the new denture.
New dentures often cause a few sore spots at first. If the problem does not settle within a few days please ring the practice and make an appointment to see your dentist. If you have to leave a denture out because of the discomfort please make sure that you have worn it for a few hours before your appointment, your dentist will then be able to see the sore spots.
It is better, from the point of view of the health of your mouth, to leave dentures out when you are asleep at night. Instructions for cleaning are below.
Some patients are unwilling to sleep without dentures, in that case it is even more important to clean both the dentures and any remaining natural teeth before you go to bed.
Cleaning Your Dentures
1. Rinse your dentures after every meal and remove debris by brushing with a soft brush, soap and cold water. Take great care to clean the surfaces that fit against your mouth and teeth, not just the surfaces that can be seen.
2. Soak dentures in a dilute solution of Milton for twenty minutes in the evening.
3. Rinse thoroughly in cold water and soak in cold water over night.
If you get severe staining or deposits that cannot be removed by this method occasional use of an acid cleaner such as Denclen will help.
If your denture contains a metal base soak in the solution for ten minutes only, never use acid cleaners on metal.
Always clean dentures over a bowl of water in case you drop them.
Never use hot water.
Never use strong bleach.
It is important for you to see your dentist for examination at regular intervals if you wear dentures. This will help to preserve your remaining natural teeth and the tissues that support the denture.
Patients with full dentures should still be examined. This will help to maintain your mouth in a healthy condition and avoid future problems.
If you break your denture contact the surgery. Do not attempt to repair a broken denture yourself under any circumstances.
back to information for patients >
It is important to remember that dentures are not teeth and do not work like teeth, nobody is born knowing how to use dentures. Denture wearing is a skill, like all skills it is learned by practice. Don’t be disheartened if you get problems at first.
A denture is a foreign body in the mouth and at first the muscles of cheeks, lips and tongue will tend to reject it. With practice these same muscles will learn to control and use the denture.
To make the learning process as easy as possible:
1. Cut your food up rather smaller than you normally do.
2. Be prepared to take rather more time over meals at first.
3. When chewing put food on both sides of your mouth - this will steady the denture.
4. Don’t try to bite on your front teeth at first - this is a more advanced skill and will take longer to learn.
Just be patient and practise - the only way to learn to use a denture is to use it.
If you have worn dentures before you are already a skilled denture wearer and life will be easier for you than for someone learning for the first time. It will however take a little while for you to adapt to the new denture.
New dentures often cause a few sore spots at first. If the problem does not settle within a few days please ring the practice and make an appointment to see your dentist. If you have to leave a denture out because of the discomfort please make sure that you have worn it for a few hours before your appointment, your dentist will then be able to see the sore spots.
It is better, from the point of view of the health of your mouth, to leave dentures out when you are asleep at night. Instructions for cleaning are below.
Some patients are unwilling to sleep without dentures, in that case it is even more important to clean both the dentures and any remaining natural teeth before you go to bed.
Cleaning Your Dentures
1. Rinse your dentures after every meal and remove debris by brushing with a soft brush, soap and cold water. Take great care to clean the surfaces that fit against your mouth and teeth, not just the surfaces that can be seen.
2. Soak dentures in a dilute solution of Milton for twenty minutes in the evening.
3. Rinse thoroughly in cold water and soak in cold water over night.
If you get severe staining or deposits that cannot be removed by this method occasional use of an acid cleaner such as Denclen will help.
If your denture contains a metal base soak in the solution for ten minutes only, never use acid cleaners on metal.
Always clean dentures over a bowl of water in case you drop them.
Never use hot water.
Never use strong bleach.
It is important for you to see your dentist for examination at regular intervals if you wear dentures. This will help to preserve your remaining natural teeth and the tissues that support the denture.
Patients with full dentures should still be examined. This will help to maintain your mouth in a healthy condition and avoid future problems.
If you break your denture contact the surgery. Do not attempt to repair a broken denture yourself under any circumstances.
back to information for patients >
