What is Denture Repair and How Is It Done?

What Are Dentures?

They are oral appliances for replacing lost teeth. Dentures are the most commonly known dental restorations for tooth replacement in dentistry. For many years, patients have associated dentures with tooth replacement for the elderly. However, over time, people are warming up to tooth replacement with dentures for younger patients. The good news is that you do not need to have lost all your natural teeth to get dentures. Today, dentists in 77379 can employ partial dentures to replace a few of your missing teeth. Still, dentures are ideal for at least four missing teeth in a row.

What are Denture Repairs?

Denture repairs in Spring, TX, entail efforts to rebuild and restore damaged dentures. Repair dental work only applies when the dentures are slightly damaged that they can be pieced back together. You can visit a dentist near you for denture repairs if they are chipped, cracked, loose, or slightly broken. In some cases, the dentist may recommend getting a new denture if the initial one is too damaged to function correctly after repair.

How Does Denture Repair Work?

Dentists typically use denture glue to fix broken dentures. In some cases, they can employ small metal rods between the two broken parts of the dentures to reinforce their strength before gluing them together. The way a dentist chooses to repair your dentures is relative to the severity of damage to your dentures. Dentists can repair your dentures in three main ways:

1. Relining – is a type of repair that address an improper denture fit. Relining works to improve how your dentures fit over time as your oral features change.
2. Rebasing – is a repair for improving the stability of a denture by replacing its entire base. It is necessary when dentures break or when they have lasted long enough to near the end of their lifespans.
3. Adjustments – are repairs to improve the general functioning of dentures. The adjustments can be purely functional or also cosmetic.

Crucial Things You Must Know About Denture Repair

When you have replaced your teeth with dentures, you must prepare for a life with your new dental restorations. It means making necessary adjustments to account for the safety and functionality of your false teeth over time. Therefore, at Dr. Paul Graf DDS – Houston Cosmetic & Family Dentistry in Spring, TX, we recommend the following factors when dentures break:

1. Remove your dentures immediately if they incur damage – if your dentures are removable, make haste to remove them when they crack or break. Be careful to handle them when so you don’t worsen the crack or breakage. While at it, tend to your gums to ensure you do suffer bleeding or develop a sore due to the denture fracture.
2. Visit your dentist immediately after your dentures break – the longer you delay repairing the dentures, the higher the likelihood of severe damage. Further, some dentures are affixed to your mouth so that they are irremovable. Therefore, you need a dentist to remove the damaged dentures from your mouth to fix them. Besides, dentures can hurt your mouth if they break while wearing them.
3. Have a spare denture in case of emergencies – it helps to have an extra pair at hand that will keep your mouth optimally functional before you repair them.
4. Don’t ever repair your dentures with super glue – while it is tempting to want to fix your dentures yourself, resist it. The ordinary glue you use at home is not ideal for repairing dentures. For one, they contain toxic chemicals that may irritate your gums and cause other oral complications. Further, adhesives like super glue will damage the surrounding areas of the dentures at the point of breakage. In this case, it will make it complicated for a dentist to repair your dentures well. Besides, ordinary glue is insufficient to hold dentures in place for optimal functionality since it is partially water-soluble. Therefore, over time, the glue will lose its hold.
5. Not all dentures are fixable – sometimes, the dentist will recommend that you get a new denture. If the damage is extensive, the glue will not be sufficient to hold the denture in place and assure optimal functionality. The last thing you want is to incur further oral damage after denture repairs. Therefore, sometimes dentists will insist on getting a new pair of dentures.