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Planning and Preparing for Dental Procedures: Your Questions Answered


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Planning and Preparing for Dental Procedures: Your Questions Answered

Making decisions about your smile can be confusing. Should you have a tooth pulled or get a root canal? Should you get adult braces or stick with a retainer? Should you use at-home whitening remedies or have your teeth professionally whitened? If questions like these are keeping you up at night, you've come to the right place. I used to stress out over routine dental procedures, and as a result, I did loads of research on everything dental-related. To help others, I'm using this blog as a place to collect, review and share what I've learned through the years. I hope you can use the information here to help you plan and prepare for your next dental appointment.

Know Your Teeth: Why and When You Need To Have Your Dentures Replaced

Depending on your dental needs and preferences, you may go for implant-supported or conventional, and fixed or removable dentures. These dentures will often be custom-made to fix your gumline or jaw exactly. However, as you age and mature, your jaw and gum will start shrinking, which in turn may cause the loosening of your dentures. You don't want your dentures to pop out any moment. Moreover, as your underlying bone changes its shape, your dentures may become very uncomfortable, and you need to have them checked out. For this reason, here are a few reasons why and when you should consider replacing your dentures.

Reasons for Replacement

Discomfort and popping out of the dentures are not the only reasons you may need to go for denture replacement. Here are other reasons:

Infections: You may not be aware that the base of your acrylic dentures is porous, and as they age, they can harbour bacteria, leading to infections like induced stomatitis. If untreated, this condition can lead to irritation, soreness, and redness in your mouth. Overly worn out dentures may also become contaminated, leading to bad taste and odours in your mouth. In addition, if the dentures sit improperly on your gum ridges, they can lead to an increase in the number of cells that cause your gums to swell.

Nutrition: If you have ill-fitting dentures, your ability to chew can be inhibited. Therefore, if your dentures prevent you from eating foods that you need to maintain a healthy diet, then they may as well cause mineral and vitamin deficiencies or a compromised immune system.

Signs for Replacement

Bone Loss: If you have missing teeth, then bone loss would be a natural occurrence. Indicators that you may be having bone loss include movement or slippage of dentures when you sneeze, talk, cough, or eat. You may also want to watch out for wrinkling of your lips around the mouth. You need to visit your dentist for the assessment of the potential for bone loss so that he or she decides if your dentures need to be replaced or relined.

Dry Mouth: You may be on medication that leads to dry mouth. Moisture is needed to keep your dentures comfortable and secure, which means that having a dry mouth can cause denture issues. For this reason, if you are experiencing dry mouth, you may want to contact your dentist.

Increased Rate at Which Your Dentures Get Dirty: If you notice food is accumulating behind your denture more easily than usual, the original seal may not be as tight as it used to, and you need to check with your dentist.