3 Important Things New Denture Owners Need To Know

Are you in need of artificial teeth to replace your natural ones? Have you been doing research because you have never had to have dentures before and you're wondering about them? Whether you need full dentures or partial ones, your dentist will make sure that they are as close a match as possible to the ones that you were originally born with. But they do still require special care and maintenance that might not be obvious to someone who has never had artificial teeth before. Your dentist should also go over these things with you before giving you your new dentures, but some things that you need to know include:

No sleeping: Since you don't have to worry about falling asleep with your natural teeth, you might assume that it's okay to fall asleep with your dentures in place. However, you should always remove your dentures and place them in a cleaning solution before you fall asleep. Artificial teeth are more porous than natural teeth, allowing for the growth of bacteria. If they are cleaned regularly, this is not a problem. If, however, you fall asleep with them in place on a regular basis, this can allow harmful bacteria to breed. You could wind up with bad breath at best or have your dentures cause an infection at worse.

Careful eating: Unfortunately, scientists have yet to be able to come up with an artificial tooth material that is as strong and as resilient as natural teeth. What this means is that even the best-fitting dentures may not allow you to eat hard seeds or nuts for fear of cracking the artificial tooth material. If you're getting partial dentures and still have your original teeth, you may be able to carefully eat seeds and nuts without using your dentures, but your dentist may advise against this. He or she will also likely give you a list of other food items that you should try to avoid in order to prevent potential damage.

Relining: Your gum shape will change over the years, more so if you have full dentures than if you only need partial ones. As a result of this change, dentures that used to fit perfectly will eventually become irritating and may start to be extremely painful to use. Your first instinct might be to blame faulty dentures, but there is nothing that your dentist can do to prevent this from happening or to predict what shape your gums will be in several years down the line. On average, you'll need to visit your dentist every 5 or 6 years in order to have your dentures reshaped so that they fit correctly in your mouth once again.

To learn more, contact a dental clinic like Dental Studios of MacArthur.