How To Look After Your Dentures

19 June 2019

This widely used tooth replacement method benefits from diligent care.

It is widely acknowledged that, as people now generally live longer, there will be a higher proportion of older people in our society as time goes by.

As many of our older Surbiton patients will already be aware, the longer you live, the more likely you are to lose several of your teeth, and even perhaps, all of them.

This isn’t inevitable of course, and good home maintenance and professional care from a dentist at the Confidental Clinic will certainly give you a fighting chance of avoiding this.

Whilst some older patients do opt for dental implants to replace their missing teeth, and with good reason to do so, many patients still continue to choose to have dentures. There are a number of reasons for this, with one common one being that no invasive treatment is necessary. Another reason is initial cost.

Which dentures to use

There are a number of types of dentures now available, and we are able to provide most of these at our Surbiton practice. These are all high quality cosmetic dentures and we will discuss the various options with you during your appointment. The options range from the standard acrylic type to those, such as Valplast, that are designed to be flexible when being worn, typically offering a greater degree of comfort for the patient.

How to look after them

Whichever type of denture you opt for, their aftercare is very important. Whilst, unlike natural teeth, they will not decay, the way that you take care of them will have an impact on how they look and feel, as well as impacting upon the risk of gum disease and other oral infections.

A recent study found that older people, especially, had some rather unusual ways of taking care of their dentures. These ranged from cleaning them with toothpaste to cleaning them with commercial bleach. It isn’t hard to guess which of those is best for your dentures!

To help wearers to take better care of them in a simple, yet effective way, we have put together a four point guide below which will help you to get the best from your ‘false teeth’. All cleaning should be done with the dentures out of the mouth and not whilst wearing them.

• Clean them daily with either a toothbrush or denture brush, using a proper denture cleaning product, and definitely not bleach!
• Make sure to soak them daily in a denture cleaning solution. This will help to not only disinfect the dentures but also help to break down and remove plaque that has become attached to them. This will help to make them more comfortable and reduce the risk of gum infections.
• Unless otherwise advised by your dentist, you should not wear your dentures whilst you sleep. This makes the nighttime a good time to soak your dentures.
• Make sure to see your dentist on a regular basis. This is something that some people fail to do as the ‘teeth’ are not natural and can’t therefore decay. There are still oral health issues that can arise in denture wearers though and you should still make sure to have your mouth examined on an ongoing basis.

These four simple tips will help you to get the most out of your dentures and maintain a healthy mouth too.

For any information on dentures, or other tooth replacement methods such as dental implants, please call the Confidental Clinic on 020 8399 1291 for an appointment.