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What To Do With The Broken Denture - Denture Repair

Even though dentures are fabricated from extremely durable materials, they will break, wear out, a tooth will come out, or their fit will change. Then its time for denture repair.

Accidents happen, dogs still like to chew on plates of the dental kind, and trash compacters have never taken kindly to dentures. In fact, it is frequently not a matter of "if," but rather a matter of "when" a denture will become broken, lost, or damaged beyond repair.

One can be assured that a problem will happen when least expected, and immediate, usually important, plans definitely will be altered unless a person is prepared.

Damaged Denture - How to Expect the Unexpected and Be Prepared

A short-term use duplicate denture will bridge the gap while a regular denture is being repaired, renovated, or replaced. Sometimes this type of denture is referred to as an "embarrassment denture" because it helps a person avoid the embarrassment of being without teeth in an emergency or during planned denture maintenance.

While this type of denture may be made at any time from an existing functional denture, it generally is fabricated immediately after a new denture is made. The embarrassment denture is neither as accurate nor as esthetic and durable as the original, but it is adequate and only meant for short-term use. The cost is generally considerably less than the original denture.

Such an interim prosthesis may be relined annually and adjusted in advance to fit the current changing shape of an individual's jaws, and therefore be ready to use at a moment's notice.

However, some individuals choose to have their embarrassment denture relined and adjusted only when they need the short-term denture. Following this latter course means that they will have to wait to wear their interim denture until an appointment can be scheduled with a dentist to complete the reline and any adjustments. But a reline for an embarrassment denture can be done in the dentist's office during a single appointment so a patient may leave with it refitted in the mouth.

In either case, a person would not be without a prosthesis while their regular denture is being worked on.

The Embarrassment Denture Facilitates Planned Periodic Maintenance

All dentures need to be periodically relined to accommodate the constant change in shape of a person's jaws. There are also times when the plastic body of a denture needs to be changed due to deterioration, or the entire denture replaced because of wear or poor fit from changing mouth conditions that can no longer be remedied by relining.

While relines can be completed in one appointment office visit, more durable relines may require that a dentist keep a denture for several days. Replacing the plastic body of a denture (called a rebase) takes several days and making a replacement denture takes several weeks.

It becomes easy to see how an embarrassment denture would solve being without one's regular denture for a period of time, even for planned maintenance, while getting on with one's life.

by Joseph J. Massad, D.D.S.

+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page.

Why Have Regular Comprehensive Denture Check-Ups?

Regular and comprehensive examinations by a dentist are critical to ensure not only the proper function of a denture, but also the maintenance of total oral health.

Two significant things happen to a denture over time:

• It loosens -- Jaw ridges (alveolar ridges) will shrink in size and become smaller due to gradual and continuing bone loss (bone resorption) that occurs in everyone to varying degrees. This results in dentures becoming increasingly loose because they were fabricated originally to fit larger alveolar ridges.
• It wears -- Denture teeth will wear from use. In addition, uneven and irregular tooth wear develops as a denture becomes loose and starts shifting.

Denture loosening combined with uneven tooth wear results in a reciprocal and cyclical reinforcing synergism between the two destructive processes.

As a denture increasingly shifts on its soft tissue and jawbone foundation, it rubs and chafes the alveolar ridge. This causes irritation, soreness, and various types of pathology, including accelerated bone loss. In turn, this will cause more uneven tooth wear, which will cause more accelerated bone loss, and so on, back and forth. This is a gradual and unrelenting process that worsens over time, frequently at the expense of excessive jawbone loss, the thinning of overlying gum tissue, and the need to prematurely replace a denture -- unless detected and corrected in a timely manner.

If these problems are detected early, as during a regular check-up, they often may be remediated by adding plastic (acrylic resin) to the inside of a denture in order to allow it to fit closely against the alveolar ridge again (called relining or rebasing). In addition, irregularly worn teeth may be adjusted, or sometimes replaced or built up. Eventually, a denture will need to be replaced, but generally this will not need to be done too soon if a person visits their licensed dentist for periodic examinations.

Some Other Check-Up Considerations

• The need to adjust a denture, as determined by regular check-ups, helps keep a proper relationship between the jaws and thus maintains esthetics. Keeping jaws in a proper functional relationship, and sometimes building out certain denture surfaces, will support the face and help prevent a premature aging appearance.
• The temporomandibular joints or TMJs (the jaw joints located in front of each ear) undergo constant change in shape throughout life by a process called bone remodeling. This process is a functional response. If improper jaw function occurs, as a result of unadjusted dentures and improper bite, it is possible for the TMJs to remodel into a pathologic relationship. This could result in numerous pathological conditions, including impaired jaw function, headache, and other head and neck pains.
• Sometimes, more importantly than finding denture problems, is the opportunity to detect serious oral pathology, such as cancer, that may be discovered in early stages rather than later when radical and sometimes devastating therapy is necessary. The maintenance of healthy oral tissues is essential for optimum comfort in long-term denture wearers.

by Joseph J. Massad, D.D.S.

+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page.