Dentures are an excellent choice to replace missing teeth. They can not only help restore a smile and allow people to eat more foods, but they can also provide an often needed boost in self-confidence. These transformative dental devices are often the chosen solution as they’re comfortable and affordable. However, over time, changes in the mouth can affect the way dentures fit, and they can start to slip or cause discomfort. If this happens, your dentist in Houston can help.
How Are Dentures Made?
First, let’s take a look at how dentures are initially made. Your dentist will take impressions and send them off to a lab to create a custom denture based on the specific size and shape of your mouth. Usually, the end result will be a comfortable, secure-fitting denture. Of course, there may be an adjustment period while you’re getting used to your denture, but it shouldn’t slip or cause sores in your mouth. However, over time, changes to the jaw bone and other changes in the mouth can make a denture no longer fit properly.
Denture Relines
If your denture no longer fits the way it once did, you should schedule an appointment with your dentist in Houston. Make sure to bring your denture to this appointment so your dentist can take a close look at the device itself as well as check out the fit of it in your mouth. If it no longer fits correctly, they may recommend a reline.
Denture relines can take the fit of your existing denture and use it to make adjustments. There are two types of denture relines – soft relines and hard relines. Soft relines can be done quickly and easily while you’re sitting with your dentist while hard relines will be sent to a lab to be recreated. Dentures with hard relines tend to last longer than those with soft relines.
What Causes Dentures to No Longer Fit?
As with many things, our mouths change over time. These changes can make a once-comfortable denture no longer fit correctly. For example, changes in the jaw bone can change the shape and size of your mouth and could require a new denture or reline. Additionally, damage to dentures can happen, and if there’s a crack or other damage, it can make a denture fit uncomfortably. It’s important to know that dentures do have a lifespan and properly won’t last forever without at least a reline.
Denture Alternatives
If your denture is no longer the right choice for you, talk with your dentist in Houston about dental implants. Dental implants are a permanent tooth replacement option that replaces the tooth root as well as the crown. No soaking is required and since implants are anchored into the jaw bone, there’s also no shifting. Dental implants can replace one or many teeth, and there are even options where a custom denture can be permanently affixed on top of a few implant posts for a brand new permanent smile.
Your denture shouldn’t be uncomfortable, it should be secure and allow you to smile and eat with confidence. If your denture is starting to slip or cause sores, schedule an appointment with your dentist in Houston as soon as possible.
