Dentures

Your New Complete Denture

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. Using your old dentures will greatly increase your adjustment period.

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 about 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.

Upper vs. Lower Dentures: Your upper denture will rest in place with moderate to strong suction. Although your lower denture should have good stability, it is infrequent that “suction” can be expected on a lower denture. Denture adhesives can help, but mini dental implants (MDI) will give you the best results.

Cleaning The Dentures and Your Mouth: Your dentures can be cleaned easily by using a denture brush and mild toothpaste. Denture soaks are also useful for the denture. Brush your gums with a regular toothbrush once per day to toughen and clean them. You should remove you dentures at night and leave them soaking in water.

The Future: Your jawbones 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 once per 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. Again, the placement of mini dental implants (MDI) will greatly reduce this shrinkage, and give you a much more secure fit.

We look forward to helping you adjust to and enjoy your new dentures.

Cleaning Your Dentures

With Soft TEMPORARY Lining

Use Kleenite as a soaking cleanser. Follow directions on the package for mixing cleanser, except use warm, almost cool water—NOT HOT. Do not experiment with other cleansers as they may damage the lining.
Soak denture in this solution up to thirty (30) minutes daily. Do NOT leave in denture in cleaner solution overnight.
Use cotton balls to swab liner during the first several days. After this, the surface of the lining can be lightly brushed with a soft toothbrush.
Avoid hot food and food requiring heavy chewing for the first day. Warm food and light chewing will not harm the lining.
Avoid food with seeds, as they can become embedded in the lining.
Keep denture in water when it is out of your mouth for any period of time. It should not become dry.

Complete Dentures Only

Dentures should be removed and placed in water or cleanser while you sleep.
Place dentures in Clorox-Calgon Solution overnight, or at least 30 minutes daily. (This will kill most bacteria I a minimum of 30 minutes)

FORMULA: 1 teaspoon Clorox bleach
2 teaspoons Calgon*
6 ounces water
*Calgon is a water softener, which is available at grocery stores. Do not use Calgonite, which is a dishwasher detergent or Calgon Bath Oil Beads/Powder.

After soaking, thoroughly remove all cleanser by light brushing under tap water. Do no place dentures with metal parts in this solution. It will corrode the metal. Do not place dentures with soft lining in this solution. It will destroy the lining.

Lightly brush dentures with a soft nylon toothbrush. Denture brushes with stiff, coarse bristles can cause wear to denture materials.
To prevent breaking dentures, brush dentures over a towel or over basin half-filled with water.
Massage gums daily with a thumb, finger or soft toothbrush for five minutes in the morning and five minutes in the evening.

Immediate Dentures

You have just had an immediate denture placed in your mouth. The following information will assist you to understand the sequence of events during the healing period.

Teeth have been removed from your mouth. Stitches may have been placed to help the mouth heal. If so, they will dissolve by themselves, unless we tell you differently.
Dentures have been placed to replace your missing teeth and gum tissue. Today these dentures will feel large and bulky. The dentures may cause your speech to be altered for a few days. They will also be difficult to chew with at first. Take small bites of soft food until you learn to chew with them.
Do not take the dentures out of your mouth today. We will do so tomorrow. The new dentures serve as a bandage similar to a cast on a broken arm during initial healing. After the initial denture removal and adjustment, you should remove the dentures as needed for cleaning and overnight.
Some discomfort is usually present when teeth are removed and immediate dentures are placed. The discomfort is due to one or two reasons:
- The trauma of removing teeth. This will heal rapidly and go away by itself.
- The denture may have a pressure spot. If so, that will be observed and removed by us as soon as you tell us about the discomfort. It will not go away by itself.
If you have been given antibiotics, take them as directed until they are gone.
Use the pain relieving pills only until the discomfort has gone.
Your dentures may have been relined today with a soft material that makes them easier to wear and speeds healing. That material may be replaced during the initial 6-week or more healing period. It is not the final denture material. Be careful not to dislodge it when cleaning.
As soon as convenient, place some ice cubes in a plastic bag and place the bag externally on the area where the teeth were removed. This will reduce the chances of swelling and bruising. However, some swelling and bruising may still occur for a short time.
Your dentures will become looser as your gums shrink after surgery. Usually, after your 1-week post-op appointment, you can begin to use denture adhesive.
After 3-6 months your denture will be relined to refine its fit to the healing supporting tissues. At this time the denture will appear, fit, and function as it was intended. Before that time it is not in its final state.
If the doctor has recommended mini dental implants (MDI) to help support your denture, this will happen after 3-4 months and will also include a relining of your denture.
Healing from tooth extractions continues for up to 18 months. Shrinkage of gums and bone is obvious during that time, but it slows thereafter. You may elect to have a second reline of the denture 18 months after the initial surgery.
Immediate dentures are a major change to your body. Don’t worry if you are slow to adapt. Millions of others have been through this experience. We expect your eventual denture to serve well for many years.

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