If you want to get the best experience, it’s important to replace dentures regularly. However, it can be hard to know when they should be replaced. You may think that the changes in your denture will be accompanied by discomfort or other changes you’d notice, but this isn’t the case. Often, the changes are too subtle, and accompanied by changes in your mouth, making it hard to tell when dentures need to be replaced.
Worn Teeth and Bad Bite
One of the parts of the denture that is subjected to the most wear is the teeth themselves. They are durable materials, but being constantly forced against their opposing pair with excessive force can wear them down.
As this happens, your bite may begin to change. Where you used to have evenly distributed forces, you now have places where the denture pushes down exceptionally hard on one or two places in the mouth. These pinch points hasten the loss of jawbone that comes with wearing dentures.
Over-Relined Dentures
As you lose bone and other material in your mouth, your dentures can lose their fit. In order to maintain their fit, dentures are relined. That is, plastic is put into the denture base to help dentures remain secure in the mouth. Eventually, though, the dentures have received so much supplemental plastic that the dentures just can’t be made to fit properly anymore, and that’s when you need new dentures.
Faded and Degraded Plastic
Another concern about old dentures is that the plastic may become faded and degraded. Over time, plastic polymers change in many ways. They can become more rigid or less so. This gives them undesirable properties, making them more susceptible to breakage, which would have to taken care of without advance notice, which can be inconvenient.
From an aesthetic perspective, the denture plastic can fade, losing their color and changing toward the plastic color, which can make them unattractive.
Even If Dentures Are Comfortable
The above reasons are why you should visit your denture dentist regularly. You need to have your dentures checked out by a professional who doesn’t see them every day and can have a better sense of the changes that are taking place. Your dentist may then recommend when it’s time to replace those old dentures.
For an evaluation of your old dentures, please call (803) 781-9090 for an appointment with a Columbia, SC denture dentist at Smile Columbia Dentistry.
