Removable dentures - a temporary solution to dental problems

Dry mouth or increased salivation

A feeling of dryness or, on the contrary, increased salivation occurs due to the adaptation of the mucous membranes to a foreign body. If the design is made correctly, the discomfort quickly passes. If your mouth is dry, you should drink water more often and rinse, but do not use alcohol solutions. It is worth limiting the consumption of tea, coffee, and at least temporarily giving up smoking. You need to get rid of dryness quickly, otherwise your gums will be injured.

Excessive salivation is a reaction to a foreign body in the mouth, to constant contact with the mucous membrane. It goes away on its own in a few days. You can simplify the adaptation process for the mucous membrane by rinsing with decoctions of chamomile, oak bark or sage, or solutions recommended by your doctor.

How to get rid of pain

The most common problem when putting removable structures into the oral cavity is pain that occurs as a result of the gums becoming unaccustomed to the loads of chewing. It is important to understand that pain is normal in this situation and will go away as soon as the gums get used to the stress of chewing food.

The first and most effective way to relieve spasms and pain is to use painkillers. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications usually help.

To reduce the pain threshold after installing dentures, dentists advise patients not to eat foods that are difficult to grind for the first 3-5 weeks. Removable dentures for the front teeth usually do not cause adjustment problems, since the pressure on them is minimal.

To get used to it as quickly as possible, you should perform a daily gum massage, which consists of gradually increasing pressure on the sore area of ​​the gum with your fingers for several minutes a day.

Problems with diction

After prosthetics, there is less space in the mouth, which is why the patient may have problems with diction at first: the tongue does not have enough free space, sounds are distorted. To cope with this faster, you will need training. To do this, you can read aloud, pronounce individual complex sounds, and do tongue exercises. The more actively the tongue “works” immediately after prosthetics, the faster the adaptation will take place and normal diction will be restored. When getting used to speaking correctly, you need to make sure that when pronouncing sounds, saliva does not fly from your mouth. A good workout would be tongue twisters that are spoken slowly, making sure that the pronunciation and articulation are correct.

Why is it more difficult to get used to a complete removable denture on the lower jaw?

The upper complete removable denture, due to its shape and anatomical features of the upper jaw, sticks to the palate and holds quite well.
People have little trouble fixing it. The greatest difficulty in getting used to is the lower complete removable denture. This is due to the fact that when not a single tooth is missing, there is a difficult fixation of this prosthesis on the lower jaw. The lower complete removable denture cannot adhere to the lower jaw, it simply lies on it.

The situation is further aggravated by the fact that the tongue is attached to the lower jaw. As the jaw moves, this powerful muscle begins to move and releases the denture. The masticatory muscles are also attached to the lower jaw, which at the moment of chewing also begin to move, move the mucous membrane and try to remove the denture. In addition, the anatomical complexity of the mucous membrane on the lower jaw complicates the adaptation and fixation of a removable denture, since it is looser, softer and less attached to the bone compared to the upper jaw.

Eating

Chewing skills with a newly installed denture need to be developed gradually. This does not mean that you need to switch to broths, purees and cereals. On the contrary, you need training with a gradual increase in load. The hardness of the products is increased gradually. It is better to start eating vegetables and fruits in small pieces, chewing them thoroughly. They get used to biting food in the same way - gradually, starting with softer foods and moving on to hard foods. You need to chew and bite carefully: it is important not to damage or injure the gums, and to control the load on it.

After installing a removable denture, the patient may feel that food is deprived of its usual taste, it has become less pronounced. This occurs because the base of the structure covers the palate where the tactile receptors are located. This does not affect the perception of taste in any way - taste buds are located on the tongue. The feeling that the taste of food has changed is associated with a foreign body in the mouth and quickly passes as you get used to it.

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What to do if your gums are rubbing

It is worth noting that after the first fitting and installation of a removable denture, as well as after the first days of wearing, the patient may notice a certain feeling of pressure in the gum area. As a rule, problems do not arise if a removable denture was installed for 1 tooth or a bridge was installed. Dentists assure that this is the norm, since the body responded to a foreign object, and the gums became slightly inflamed. After getting used to it, the swelling will gradually go away and the implants will be normal again.

To relieve inflammation in a short time, dentists advise rinsing your mouth with chamomile or string, calendula or aloe. Such plants help soothe tissue. It is also necessary to limit the consumption of foods that can cause irritation to the oral cavity and mucous membranes.

It is important to understand that in the case of a prolonged inflammatory process, it is worth contacting the dentist to check the correct choice of shape and size of the structure, and also, if necessary, make adjustments to the prosthesis.

Restoring chewing function

Many patients, after a long absence of teeth in the mouth, cannot get used to the fact that removable teeth can be used completely for their intended purpose. This leads to patients relearning how to chew food.

To solve this problem, you should not bite off large pieces of food for a while, chewing each piece thoroughly. Also, you should not bite off hard foods for a long time until you get used to the new devices.

You need to get used to chewing on both sides of your teeth alternately so as not to overload your gums.

Solving the problem of drooling

Another frequently asked question among patients with false teeth is excessive drooling from the mouth. This condition is caused by the presence of a foreign body in the oral cavity, which provokes the receptors. To a greater extent, the condition occurs when a removable plate prosthesis is installed.

There is no need to control this process - after a few weeks, the body’s reaction weakens and the salivation process returns to normal. As a preventive measure and habituation, you can drink large amounts of plain water.

Problems pronouncing words and sounds

It is important, after the general condition of the tooth has become accustomed to the presence of dentures, to begin working with diction, since it is impaired in 70% of cases.

In order to eliminate problems with the pronunciation of sounds, dentists advise talking in front of a mirror, pronouncing various words with sounds that are difficult to perceive.

Difficult phrases and tongue twisters, as well as pronouncing words out loud, will be a good help.

Food perception

Adaptation to removable dentures occurs, as a rule, without loss of taste, however, a third of patients during the period of adaptation note a decrease in the perception of taste buds.

It is important to adjust the psychological level in order to get used to the new sensation of tastes. Many dentists advise trying every bite of food, trying to feel its taste.

This activity helps not only restore receptor function, but also learn to eat food correctly.

The process of wearing dentures and adapting to them is quite complex, so it is important to adjust yourself on a psychological and physical level. In the first weeks after installation of a removable denture, you must try to follow all the doctor’s instructions in order to adapt your body quickly and painlessly.

Injuries

In the first days after installation, injured areas may appear on the surface of the gums: small wounds, abrasions, etc. They may appear due to improper chewing technique or sensitivity of the mucous membrane. Normally, the denture stops rubbing the gums within a few days. You can speed up this process by rinsing with antiseptic solutions and chamomile decoction.

If injuries do not go away over time, become more pronounced, or cause increasing discomfort, you should consult a doctor. The problem may lie in the design itself. The doctor will conduct an examination and correct the prosthesis. Usually one correction is enough for the discomfort to go away.

Reasons for unsatisfactory fastening

In order for the patient to adapt to the new structures as quickly as possible, experts recommend not removing them even during sleep (despite pain and discomfort in the gum area). As a rule, adaptation to the prosthesis and a tight fit to the crest of the alveoli is achieved 3 weeks after installation.

Sometimes cases occur when a tightly fixed product begins to wobble. The reason of that:

• Unprofessional adjustment of the base - the lower dentition often suffers. This is due to the fact that the jaw is involved in speaking and chewing food. Due to constant mobility, the structure may move from its original location.
• Lack of supporting teeth - if there is one supporting tooth, the fixation weakens over time.
• Anatomical and physiological features of the dentofacial apparatus - incorrect arrangement of teeth, a small amount of bone tissue, etc.
• Incorrectly selected method of fastening - methods such as clasps (wire hooks), screw elements, magnets, attachments (locks), pelots are used for fixation. For each patient, the type of fastening is selected according to individual parameters.
• Looseness of the supporting teeth is observed both before and after fixation of the prosthesis. At the same time, not only molars, but also bridge-like products can become loose. The reason for this is the destruction of the fastening cement.

Allergic reaction

It occurs very rarely, since all structural elements are made of hypoallergenic, biocompatible materials. It manifests itself as redness of the gums at the contact site; this area may itch and possibly burn. The unpleasant sensations do not go away and do not weaken, they can intensify, the gums look injured.

Allergy is a rejection of construction materials, which may be accompanied by nausea, malaise, and dizziness. It appears almost immediately after installation, disappears after some time if you remove it. There is no point in waiting for adaptation in case of allergies - the reaction will only intensify over time. To solve the problem, you need to find out which material in the structure you are allergic to and make a new prosthesis without using it.

Psychological aspect

Often the use of a prosthesis provokes psychological discomfort in the patient: it frightens him, it seems to him that complications have already arisen, and adaptation is not going well. To prevent such a problem from arising, you need the right attitude: a person must be prepared for the difficulties that may arise in the first days. It is important to take your time and understand that the body needs to get used to new conditions. The period of complete adaptation takes up to one and a half months on average, but the most noticeable discomfort disappears after 1-2 weeks if you wear the prosthesis constantly.

To get used to a removable denture faster, orthodontists at the Dentospas clinic recommend massaging the gums. You can do it yourself, it will improve blood circulation and tissue nutrition, and improve the condition of the gums. Massage is done provided that the surface of the mucous membrane is not injured and there are no open wounds on it. At first, to speed up adaptation, you can leave the prosthesis on at night (install it again after cleaning). This is safe (the gums and tongue hardly move during sleep) and allows you to increase the time of contact of the mucous membrane with the base of the structure.

How to get used to dentures?

Dentures of all designs are both a therapeutic and preventive remedy. Dentures made in a timely manner restore impaired functions of chewing and speech, prevent deformation of the dentition and diseases of the temporomandibular joint. The shape of the face does not change.

At first, a denture is perceived in the oral cavity as a foreign body. This perception disappears as you get used to it. There are fixed prostheses, the so-called bridges, and removable ones - plate and clasp. Patients quite easily, after 1-2 days, adapt to fixed bridges.

Removable dentures are more difficult to master, especially in the complete absence of natural teeth on both jaws. Of course, the duration of mastering removable plate dentures depends on the size of the denture, the degree of its fixation on the jaw and the nature of the transmission of chewing pressure.

The reaction of organs and tissues of the mouth and the whole body to a denture is important. This depends largely on the type of higher nervous activity of a person, age and general health.

The effectiveness of using prostheses depends not only on their design and quality of manufacture, but also on the patient’s desire to overcome difficulties and follow the doctor’s instructions.

People who are nervous and impatient fall into despair and do not want to use prosthetics. It is not right. It is necessary to overcome yourself and even if you feel the urge to vomit, do not remove the prosthesis. Deep breathing through the nose and sucking on icicles helps get rid of the unpleasant sensation. After a day or two or three, the discomfort should disappear. You just need to try not to get hung up on them. Any switch - work, an interesting book, a TV show - distracts thoughts from the prosthesis, and it ceases to be perceived as a foreign body.

On average, the process of adaptation to clasp dentures lasts one week, and to plate dentures for partial dentition defects - a month. People with a complete absence of their own teeth become accustomed to plate dentures in about six months.

• A few days after you start using the prosthesis, you need to go to the dentist for an examination, even if there is no pain or discomfort. The fact is that some people have reduced pain sensitivity of the mucous membrane, and they do not feel pain even with significant trauma under the prosthesis.
• If the prosthesis causes pain, remove it, but be sure to put it back on 3-4 hours before visiting the doctor, otherwise the doctor will not be able to determine the location of the injury from the prosthesis on the mucous membrane.
• Do not try to fix the denture yourself, as it can easily be damaged.

Patients are always worried about whether they will be able to speak normally after prosthetics?

“Language exercises help restore correct speaking faster - 10-15 minutes four times a day,” says Lyudmila Vecherskaya. “We pronounce, for example, the following Russian words: “wasp”, “eyes”, “rose”, “good”. Start by saying these words slowly in a whisper with emphasized articulation. Then speed up the pace of pronunciation and strengthen your voice. Reading aloud in a quiet voice is also helpful. Read slowly at first, then faster and louder.”

In most patients, correct speech is restored quite quickly - after 5-6 days. If, after 2-3 weeks of using dentures, diction does not improve, you should contact an orthopedic dentist.

Chewing function is more difficult and slower to recover. At first, a person feels discomfort and sometimes pain when chewing. Therefore, you should not eat dry or hard foods at first. Chew slowly and cut food into small pieces.

To speed up the adaptation process, try not to remove your dentures for a month, day or night. Remove them only for hygienic processing. Every morning and before bed, fixed dentures must be cleaned, just like your own teeth, with a brush and toothpowder or toothpaste. It is better to use tooth powder because it has good cleansing properties.

Removable dentures must be washed after each meal with running (but not hot) water and be sure to rinse your mouth. Food residues may remain on the dentures, plaque may form, and then tartar. When food remains decompose, they have a negative effect on the teeth; they begin to decay, and this is especially often observed in hooks (clasps).

In the future, after getting used to the dentures, they should be removed at night, thoroughly cleaned with a toothbrush and tooth powder, and stored in a special container with a lid, which can be purchased at a pharmacy, or in a glass of boiled water at room temperature. The doctor who made the prosthesis gives an individual recommendation to the patient on how to use the prosthesis at night: leave it in the mouth or remove it and store it in a container with a lid.

Do not put the denture in hot or even warm water, as it will become deformed. It is now believed that it is not worth leaving the prosthesis overnight without water: it becomes fragile. Strong tea, black coffee, or smoking can cause dentures to change color.

If cracks or other damage appear, the prosthesis should not be used so as not to injure the soft tissues. You need to see a dentist.

We wish you health and patience!

Svetlana Borisenko, July 17, 2012. Source: newspaper “Zvyazda”