Tips For Living With Dentures

If you are gearing up for denture treatment or you have just received your dentures, you may be apprehensive about your life with the prosthesis in your mouth. Well, dentures do take some getting used to. However, the following practices should help ease and hasten the transition period with your full or partial dentures.

Practice

The first thing you should know is that the dentures will affect most of your oral functions, such as eating and speaking. Thus, you may have to relearn many of these functions. Just as with anything that needs to be learned, practice makes perfect when it comes to living with dentures.

Don't avoid food or keep silent just because you have dentures. Practice eating and talking or even singing, and you will soon be back to your normal self. You can even read your books or magazines aloud to yourself as part of your practice.

Proper Eating

Even though you should not shy away from food, you need to watch what you eat. Choose soft foods that are easy to chew. Cut the foods into small pieces so that you don't have to bite them with your teeth, and you can easily chew them. Give yourself ample time to eat so that you don't have to rush; you need to chew slowly. Also, avoid hard or sticky foods since they might dislodge your dentures.

Oral Hygiene

Dental hygiene is necessary at the best of times; it's even more critical if you have a dental prosthesis, such as dentures, in your mouth. The dentures can trap food and bacteria in your mouth, and they also make it difficult to brush and floss. Thus, you have to go the extra mile to keep your mouth clean if you have dentures.

For example, you need to brush and clean your teeth every time you want to put the dentures in your mouth. In addition, you also need to clean your dentures (using a denture cleaner and brush) daily.

Use Denture Adhesive

Many people are embarrassed when their dentures get dislodged in their mouth. Your dentures might move out of their ideal places if you don't use denture adhesive. Denture adhesive, which comes in both cream and powder form, ensures that your dentures stay in place even when you sneeze, laugh, or eat. Just note that denture adhesive is not a substitute for a proper fit. You only use the adhesive to enhance the fit and comfort of dentures that already fit properly.


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