We lose our teeth in numerous ways. Tooth decay, getting hit, stress, old age, wear and tear and many other things result in a toothless smile. Some people lose all of their teeth while others only lose a bunch. The only certain thing is that all of our teeth has an expiration date on them.When that expiration date comes, it leaves us with a compromised mouth. Not only do we lose our smile, but we also lose a part of our mouths effectiveness. Losing a couple of teeth can change multiple things. Such as; our ability to speak, eat food and our self confidence.
Since we don’t want none of these to happen. There are couple of treatments you can take. Dentures, also known as fake teeth, are one of the safest and quickest fixes for a compromised mouth. Even though there are better alternatives in the dental world, you can’t go wrong with dentures.
There is no age limit on getting dentures. However, it’s quite common to know that dentures are mostly used for older folk. This is for a good reason, dentures are easy to get and work immediately. They can also be taken on and off whenever you want.Other treatment options are much harder on the body and much more expensive. Not to mention the extended recovery periods and limitations after these procedures. The elderly don’t want to go under those time periods. They want the quick fix and the low price tag.
If you are an adult and lost your teeth because of an ‘X’, ‘Y’ reason, It’s our advice to go for the more natural and permanent treatment. If you lost all of your teeth, dental implants is a better fix for that. If you lost only a couple of your teeth, bridge treatment might be the better option.Implant and bridge procedures are permanent fixes and look/feel much more like your own teeth compared to dentures. Dentures are fake teeth while implants and bridges bond like a real one. If you want to get more information on these two, you can click here. (link to dental implants bio)
There is not an age limit on dentures. If you lost all of your teeth or a portion of your teeth, it means that you are eligible for this treatment. But, we advise implants and bridges for most of our patients. If you are not eligible for those two treatments and if you are an elderly, dentures would be your best bet.
Patient's worry about dentures all the time. Questions such as; ‘Is it gonna feel like my teeth?’ or ‘am i gonna look different?’, comes to us all the time. Answers are simple for both of these questions. Dentures are made to look exactly like your real teeth.It would be very hard to notice the change as they seem pretty much identical. How you feel with them is another story. At first, just like with every other dental procedure, dentures will feel weird. This is given. They are gonna feel loose and uncomfortable from time to time.
But given time, your temporal and masseter muscles will grow and become what they were used to be. We call this the adjustment period. During this period, you may see some irritation at your gums. But this is temporary, once you adjust to your dentures, everything will be fine.After getting your dentures, expect these to happen;
After the procedure, dentures should stay with you at all times. This will go on for the first 5 days. Use that time to get used to living with a denture in your mouth. Sleeping will be awkward at the first two days. After that, you should get used to it.In that 5 days, you will realize the things that feel off. At your first week appointment, you can voice the things that bother you about the dentures and your dentist will do the correct adjustments. After the adjustments, you can take off your dentures whenever you like.
You should also note that you need to visit your dentist every 3 months to see if there are problems with the dentures. They can get loose and lose their grip over time and this is a bad thing for you. Check them out whenever you think you should and contact your dentist.
There are couple of things that you should expect after getting dentures. One of these things is eating. Eating will be a bit problematic for the first few weeks. It will feel awkward and out of sync with how you would normally eat. At first, try to avoid hard foods for a week.Hard foods and chewy foods should be avoided for the first week. After that, ease yourself into eating these kind of foods. Don’t take huge bites and eat them slowly. But, after a while, you will get used to dentures and your eating will be back to normal.
Other than eating, expect to face with some speech problems for the first week. After getting dentures, it might be harder for you to pronounce some words. But, just like the eating, with some practice, you can stop this from bothering you. Give yourself time and practice the words that push your buttons.
Last but not least, if you are interested in a contact sport ( talking for mostly adults) you should always wear a mouthguard before participating in the said sport. If you get hit very hard, dentures can break and it can injure you. If this happens, a denture repair will be needed.
Denture adhesives are , if used accordingly, safe. Some patients might feel that their dentures are not stable as they would like them to be. In those cases, you can use a powdered or paste version of these adhesives to further the stability. This can help with your biting and make you feel more secure.But, these are only applied if dentures are well fit and removable. If there are some problems with the dentures stability, If it clicks while you eat or talk, you should immediately contact your dentist. Don’t use adhesive on a badly fit denture. It can mess up your soft tissue. Use them as an assistant to your dentures.
Getting dentures is a great way to regain the lost teeth without the surgical aspects of the implant and bridge treatments. They work fast and look like a real teeth. They are generally safe, but sustained clinic visits are required for them to be effective. A small denture cleaning should be done every day.This sustained cleaning can stop plaque and calculus formation and create a habit of dental hygiene. Dentures are also not as expensive as other procedures. If you want to know more about denture cost’s, contact us via social media and whatsapp help line!