Information About Your New Removable Partial Dentures
The following information will be helpful to you at this time:
1. 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.
2. Sore Spots: Usually, your mouth will have a few "sore spots" after wearing the dentures for 24 hours. Do not worry about these areas. They can be relieved with very little effort during your next appointment. Another appointment about seven days later will usually eliminate any other sore areas.
3. Chewing: The new bite or occlusion will not feel completely comfortable for a period of days. We will adjust the contacting surfaces of your teeth after 24 hours and again about one week after the dentures have settled into place.
4. Cleaning the Dentures and Your Mouth: Your dentures can be cleaned easily by using a denture brush and a mild toothpaste such as Complete (Proctor & Gamble) or regular hand soap. Use special care to clean parts of the partial that contact any natural teeth. Both the partial denture and the natural teeth must be kept very clean on a daily basis to reduce the chance of new dental decay starting. Use fluoride-containing toothpaste. If suggested by us, use PreviDent (Colgate) on a daily basis. Denture soaks are also useful for the partial. In addition, small "sonic" cleaners are available for home use. Please ask us if you are interested. You may leave the dentures in or out of your mouth at night, depending on your preference. If they are out of your mouth, leave them soaking in water.
5. The Future: Your jaw bones and gums shrink up to 1/32 of an inch per year when your teeth are missing. This shrinkage is one of the main disadvantages of artificial dentures. Because of this shrinkage, you should plan to have your dentures and oral tissues evaluated at least every six months by us. We will inform you when relining or rebasing of the dentures is necessary. Wearing ill-fitted dentures for too long without refitting can cause severe bone loss and very serious oral diseases.
We look forward to helping you adjust to, and enjoy your new partial dentures.
We have done our best to provide you with well-fitted, functional, and esthetic removable partial 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.