It’s no secret that Americans love their coffee. In fact, the average American adult drinks three cups of coffee a day. And since not everyone drinks coffee every day, it means that many people drink a lot more than that!
But what happens when you get dentures? Will they mean you’ll have to give up your daily java? Not at all. You can keep drinking coffee with dentures (although you can’t buy dentures at a coffee shop here), but there are a few issues to be take into account.
Will Hot Coffee Damage Dentures?
Some people are worried that hot coffee will damage their dentures. The concern makes sense because dentures are typically made of a thermoplastic, PMMA, which can soften or even melt at higher temperatures.
The good news is that you’re not likely going to have trouble with this if you have quality dentures. The true melting point of PMMA is over 300° F. If your coffee is that hot, it’s evaporated!
But what about softening of dentures that can affect their fit? If you’re drinking really hot coffee, it’s possible that the heat could soften your dentures. But that’s only an issue with cheap dentures made of low-density PMMA . Quality dentures are dense enough that any coffee you could actually drink won’t damage them.
Will I Be Likely to Burn Myself with Dentures?
Speaking of really hot coffee, how can you gauge the temperature of your coffee with dentures? Many people are used to using their teeth to gauge the temperature of coffee. You might do this by sucking in the air over the coffee, bringing the coffee very close to your teeth, or even touching the coffee with your teeth.
Obviously, this won’t work with dentures because your dentures can’t sense the temperature of coffee. If you use this method of gauging the temperature of your coffee, you’ll need to learn a slightly different method of testing it. Try gauging the temperature with your lips. But be careful at first: your lips can be burned if you’re not careful.
Another way you might get burned is if you don’t know how to drink the coffee properly and spill it on yourself. It does take a little practice learning to drink coffee with dentures. The hardest thing to remember is swallowing before you drink: this helps seat removable dentures properly so they function more like natural teeth.
Resist the temptation to take your dentures out for drinking coffee. This makes it more likely that you’ll lose them. If you can’t get used to drinking coffee with dentures, it may be that your dentures just aren’t fitted properly or securely.
Will Coffee Stain My Dentures?
Many people worry that drinking coffee will stain your dentures. And this is definitely a problem because dentures can’t really be whitened. But not all dentures are affected equally by coffee stains.
The most easily stained dentures are cheap dentures made with plastic teeth. Plastic is inherently vulnerable to staining. And cheap dentures are made with low-density plastic that has many voids in it. Staining molecules can get into these voids and cause staining.
But quality dentures like FOY® Dentures are made with ceramic teeth. Ceramic teeth are able to repel the stains from coffee so they won’t darken the teeth. You’ve seen how a quality coffee cup doesn’t get stained, even if you drink coffee out of it every day for 20 years or more. Ceramic teeth are the same way: clean them properly and they’ll look as bright and beautiful decades from now as they do today.
Quality Dentures Help You Enjoy Your Coffee
If you have good dentures, there’s no reason why you should have to give up or cut back on your daily coffee. This is just one of the many ways that good dentures help you keep enjoying life to its fullest, even if you’ve lost your teeth.
If you are looking for quality dentures in Columbia, SC, please call (803) 781-9090 today for an appointment with a denture dentist at Smile Columbia Dentistry.
