Do
+ Use and eat your denture as much as possible (except temporary or essix retainer, do not eat with it)
+ Before going to bed: clean the denture using under the tap using COLD water, use liquid soap or dishwashing liquid with a standard toothbrush or denture brush.
+ Fill the wash basin with some water to clean your denture (if you can). This will cushion the fall of the denture should you accidentally drop it!
+ Get a bowl/cup and immerse your denture in cold water. Follow the instructions to put your denture cleansing tablets (we recommend polident or sterident tablets) into the water.
+ Leave the denture overnight in the solution and sleep without your denture. (The solution is both anti-fungal and anti-bacterial)
+ Next morning rinse the denture in cold tap water to get rid of the solution then you can wear your denture again.
+ Visit us every 6 months with your denture to ensure that the fit is proper and check if it needs maintenance (like a car, dentures need regular maintenance and check!)
+ Get a second pair of dentures once you are comfortable with your dentures. This is like getting second pair of glasses, as we do need to take your dentures away to the technician for maintenance and it will take around 1-2 weeks for them to get things done.
+ Rinse your denture and mouth between eating or meals, as food getting stuck between dentures will make you get dental decay easier than without dentures!
Don't
- Rinse or soak the denture in HOT OR WARM WATER: will distort the acrylic or plastic.
- Never use toothpaste to brush the denture: it will introduce micro-scratches which will discolour your dentures faster than it should.
- For temporary dentures (essix retainers): do not eat or sleep with the dentures. These dentures are only designed to plug in the missing tooth and are not meant to be functional – they are only made to look pretty!
- Do not wear your denture at night. Take it off before going to bed – your gums need to breath overnight otherwise you will get sore and swollen gums!
- Leave your dentures too long without going to see us or another dentist for maintenance. Most often we may need make a new denture if the fit is too poor.
- Do not have only just one denture. Always have a second denture when your primary denture is under maintenance with the technician.
- Leave your denture on the restaurant table wrapped up in tissue paper – we have seen restaurant staff throw the paper (and the denture) away!
Notes
- Ill-fitting dentures: This is due to the bone shrinkage, which is natural, hence the need to reline or rebase as part of the maintenance schedule. Ill-fitting dentures causes many issues on your gums such as ulcerations.
- Broken or loose clasps: The metal clasps on your denture holds your denture so that when you talk it doesn’t drop out of your mouth. After a period of wear the metal will expand and become loose, at worse it can break due to work hardening. Please advise us if it is happening so we can make arrangements to get a new clasp made with our technician or we can use special pliers to tighten it.
To buy list
- Toothbrush (softest possible) or denture brush
- Polident or Sterident denture tablets
- Extra liquid soap or dishwashing liquid
- Extra mouthguard holders (to hold the dentures in when not wearing)