|
|
Oral Health Care for Patients With Dentures
The following information is provided as a general guideline. It is not intended to replace follow-up professional care.
Should you require urgent care, consult your treating dentist for instructions on your particular situation.
- The dentures should be worn for 24 hours after they are inserted until the first adjustment.
- Always wear dentures at least six hours before an adjustment is made.
- Your doctor will adjust sore spots as they occur when the denture settles.
- It is natural to experience fullness of the mouth with new dentures.
- Expect to have excessive flow of saliva.
- At first you will have a feeling of looseness, especially in the lower denture. You will adjust to it.
- The lower denture is harder to adjust to than the upper.
- Start out with small bites of soft food, chewing straight up and down. Try to chew on both sides.
- Bite anything as far back in your mouth as possible. For example, bite a carrot and bend the carrot up.
- In biting an apple or similar hard fruit or vegetable, exert a force toward the teeth rather than one pulling away from the teeth. This could dislodge them.
- If you are eating food well in six to eight weeks, you are doing fine.
- You should brush the dentures inside and out at least two times a day.
- Clean dentures over a basin partially filled with water or over a wet towel to prevent breakage in case they should be dropped accidentally.
- To clean dentures, soak them overnight in baking soda and water.
- Your denture should be left out at night to give your gums a rest.
- Whenever your denture is left out of your mouth, it should be kept in water to prevent warpage.
- It will be more difficult to adjust to new dentures if you had old dentures or no teeth for a long period of time.
- You should return for an examination every six months.
- It is perfectly natural for a little food debris to collect under the dentures.
- Sneezing can dislodge any denture.
- Immediate dentures may need to be replaced or relined within one year. The denture doesn’t change, but the underlying tissue does.
- Using excessive amounts of denture adhesive to retain ill-fitting dentures invites serious problems and more involved correction at a later date.
- Please call your treating dentist if you need urgent care.
|
|