Everyone intends to keep their smiles healthy, but years of wear and tear, poor oral health, and injury can change all that. When we start having missing teeth, it comes with some unhappy and uncomfortable changes in our lives. Fortunately, there are some options like dentures that help to restore a perfect smile. While dentures are not necessarily an exact replacement for natural teeth, they allow people to appear and function like they would with natural teeth.
What Are The Common Challenges When Wearing Dentures?
Dentures are a cost-effective way to replace your missing teeth. There are various advantages and disadvantages of choosing to wear dentures. For more information, you can check it out here.
If you’ve decided to wear one, you must ensure it fits well. If not, your dentures might shift over time and start to loosen, causing discomfort while hindering eating and speech. Most people with dentures have difficulty adjusting to a life with them. Here are some of the common challenges when wearing dentures.
Difficulty In Eating
Many people have difficulty eating because their mouths are not yet used to the dentures, and their gums have not healed from the procedures. Eating well with dentures takes time and practice, so one must be patient. The dentures might slip from their position when you bite or chew on something. The best way to overcome this issue is to stick to easy-to-eat food when your dentures are new.
Trouble Speaking
Dentures feel like foreign objects in the mouth, making speaking difficult when they are new. Your tongue might have difficulty moving around the dentures, making it hard to form the right sounds. If you experience this problem, try to familiarize your tongue with the mouth muscles and practice speaking privately. With time speaking with dentures will become second nature.
Slipping Dentures
Dentures might occasionally slip out of position when you speak, eat, cough, laugh, or smile. You will need time for your mouth and gums to conform to the dentures, no matter how well-designed. Removable dentures tend to move around the mouth since they are not well secured. However, you can gently reposition them whenever they slip until you get used to it.
Mouth Infections
Wearing dentures can sometimes lead to mouth infections like stomatitis and cheilitis. Cleaning the dentures and visiting your dentist regularly is the best way to avoid these infections. In case you have an infection, you should visit your dentist immediately.
Discomfort
Dentures can cause sore spots on the gums, tongue, and cheeks when they are still new. The gum tissues become smaller when you wear dentures. To get used to the dentures, remove them when you go to sleep after the first 24 hours. It will help your gums to stay healthy and rest. Eating soft foods while chewing on both sides will also help your mouth to get accustomed to the dentures.
Reduced Taste
Dentures cover the mouth palate for them to stay in position. This placement covers the taste buds on the mouth palate, thus reducing the flavor of foods. This tastelessness leads to some denture wearers adding more salt to make the food tasty. Excess salt in food can lead to health issues like high blood pressure.
Inconvenience
Constantly removing your dentures every time before you go to bed and continuously cleaning them is hectic. You must never forget to remove and clean the dentures every day before going to sleep. Failure to remove them and not to clean them properly can lead to various dental issues. Fixed dentures can, however, eliminate these inconveniences.
Social Phobias
People who wear dentures are always concerned about slippage when speaking, chewing, or eating. Removable dentures can be embarrassing; thus, denture wearers can shun socializing. This situation leads to isolation, loneliness, and depression for denture wearers. If you are worried about this, you might opt for fixed dentures that remain in position and don’t slip.
Cleaning Problems
Getting used to cleaning your dentures daily might take some time. With time and practice, you will get used to the task. You should clean your dentures often enough using the right cleaners and avoid damaging the dentures as you wash them.
Excess Saliva
Dentures are foreign objects in your mouth that might confuse how your body functions. This situation makes your saliva glands work harder and produce more saliva than usual. However, with time the saliva glands will usually start working as your mouth adjusts to the dentures. There is nothing much you can do about this issue apart from being patient.
Common Challenges When Wearing Dentures
Getting used to a new pair of dentures takes time, so you must be patient. Your denture problems will resolve on their own with time. However, if you experience lingering denture issues or infections, then don’t hesitate to consult your trusted dental professional.
If you believe dentures are your best option for replacing missing teeth, but you don’t have a dentist yet, search for a phrase like “dentist near me Kissimmee” on the internet, and it should provide a list of dental experts that you can check out.