Denture Related Oral Health Issues

Denture Related Oral Health Issues

If you are considering wearing dentures to replace missing teeth, read on for more information.

If you have lost teeth in the past, there is a reasonable chance that you now wear dentures to replace them. Dentures have been used for this purpose for over two hundred years and have served their purpose reasonably well. Modern dentures are more comfortable than before and look more natural too.

That is the good news about dentures. Unfortunately, it isn’t all good and wearing dentures can create problems, not only with your oral health but your social life too. In today’s blog, the Blue Sky Dental team takes a look at some of the potential issues that denture wearers might face.

Unstable replacement teeth?

One common problem with dentures is that they don’t always fit quite as they should, especially after being worn for a while. They can have the tendency to move around in the mouth. This can create problems when eating but also cause embarrassment in social settings.

Soreness and discomfort

As dentures move, they can cause friction between the dentures and your gums. This can soon make your gums quite sore and can make eating not only tricky but also painful too. Pressure sores and ulcers are also possible, especially if the dentures don’t fit as they should.

Eating problems

When dentures move around in the mouth when you eat, it can be very problematic. Even when they don’t, some people find that they are not comfortable eating certain foods and often change to foods that are easier to eat rather than those that they would really like to eat.

Speech issues

Although this largely happens with people new to their dentures, it can take some time to become accustomed to them and this can produce a few speech issues. One of the most common of these is a lisp.

Bone loss

When a tooth is lost, the bone in that area starts to be reabsorbed by the body, using the minerals elsewhere. This bone loss may be responsible for the looseness of some dentures as it changes the shape of the face a little. This is one of the main reasons why we believe that our quality dental implants offer a better tooth replacement option, replacing the tooth root as well as the crown section, unlike dentures.

Increased infection risk

The area under the denture can be moist and can increase the amount of the candida fungus which is the main factor behind oral thrush. This can cause sore patches in the mouth and may also bleed.

Gagging and salivation

Especially when initially worn, dentures can cause a gagging reflex if the plate goes deep into the mouth. This can be a strange feeling although patients usually get used to it. You may also find that you salivate excessively initially as the body sees your dentures as a ‘foreign body’ that it wants to eliminate. This usually settles after a short while.

Taste bud changes

Especially where the dentures have a plate that covers the roof of the mouth, some of your taste buds won’t come into contact with the food that you are eating. This might be something that you will get used to over time but few of us would want to lose this part of the experience of eating.

Psychological effects

For some people, the idea of wearing dentures is very challenging, especially if you are relatively young. It can even affect people psychologically and may cause them to withdraw from social occasions if they feel that they can’t hide the fact. This is part of the reason that younger patients of our Chelmsford dental clinic are increasingly turning to dental implants when they need to replace a missing tooth.

Dental implants instead of dentures?

We have discussed dental implants before but as a brief reminder for anyone needing an introduction as to why we believe they are better than dentures in many cases.

Dentures sit on the gums and rely on suction and sometimes denture adhesives to keep them secure. This sometimes works but also sometimes doesn’t and can be quite problematic. Bone loss is also inevitable for denture wearers. This isn’t the case with dental implants.

Dental implants are, in effect, a replacement tooth root which is placed into the jaw bone. This is left for a while for the bone to fuse with the implant, holding it securely in place. Once this happens, a crown can then be attached, leaving the patient with a strong, secure and fully functional replacement tooth that looks and feels as natural as is currently possible.

Naturally, placing dental implants requires minor oral surgery but this should be easy to manage. If you would like to find more about this, please take a look at our website, or to discuss the possibility of having them to replace a missing tooth, simply make a call to our Chelmsford dental practice and arrange an initial consultation to discuss this further. You can do this by calling Blue Sky Dental on 01245 211070.

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