If you wear dentures, you may find that from time to time they require repair. A denture fracture isn’t an unusual occurrence, and is especially common if you’ve been using your dentures for a while. After all, the longer you’ve worn our dentures, the more likely you’ll need to visit your dentist and get a repair carried out at some point.
The Causes Of Damaged Dentures
The most commonly seen reason for denture repair is fractures due to poor fit. When you bite and chew with your dentures, you’re applying force and this can cause microfractures in the material that the dentures are made from. If your lower and upper set don’t evenly align, you can put excess pressure in a single area and eventually, a break will occur, revealing a crack that requires fixing.
Another common cause of broken dentures is impact fractures. These are caused by dropping your denture on a hard surface. In this case, the denture may break at any point. The teeth may break, or the pink area that represents the gumline may crack. Even the metal clasps can suffer damage, so you shouldn’t put broken or damaged dentures back into your mouth before taking them to be repaired in case you hurt yourself.
How Is Denture Repair Carried Out?
Revitalizing or relining the denture forms a key part of denture repair. As the bone and gums under your dentures can change over time, they shrink until you need to reset the fit of your dentures. If this is caught at an early enough stage, a dentist can add material to the denture so the fit improves. This is known as basing or relining the denture.
As dentures are primarily made from acrylic resin, they are relatively easy to repair. Acrylic resin isn’t just comfortable, durable and aesthetically pleasing, it is designed to be repairable with more acrylic being easy to add to the denture to reinforce it or to bond to a broken or fracture area to fix it firmly in place.
Can I Prevent Breakage Of My Dentures?
There are a few things you can do to delay needing a denture repair. When you handle your denture, bear in mind that it can easily slip from your hands, so make sure you keep a firm grip. Avoid dropping your denture into the sink, and when cleaning it, keep a towel under it to cushion it should it fall. Periodically, check your dentures for wear and tear to make sure that its fit doesn’t get any worse.
Eventually, even the most carefully handled denture will probably require a repair, and when that time comes, visit Delmar Family Dental. Not only do we offer a comprehensive range of family dental care services, but we can also repair your dentures for you so you can enjoy the ability to eat all your favorite foods once more!