A frequent cause of a broken, chipped, or cracked denture is the impact of dropping it on the bathroom tile or into a sink. Sometimes damage to dentures happens when they are left in a place where children or pets are able to get at them let a dentist help you with that denture repair.
Dentures should be handled and stored carefully once out of the mouth to avoid chipping, breaking or damaging the pink denture base or the denture teeth.
If your denture is broken or damaged, visit a dentist to make sure that the denture repair provides the best denture fit, function, appearance and oral health.
Do-it-yourself denture repair can cause more damage than good to your denture and result in your needing a new denture. Do-it-yourself denture repair also can be very destructive to the gum tissues and bone ridges and cause irritation and sores.
A dentist has the training and qualifications, as well as the right instruments, supplies, and tools best suited to properly perform a denture repair.
If your denture is broken, keep any broken pieces of the denture. To prevent distortion of the denture, store the pieces in room temperature water until your dental appointment. The dentist will examine you and the denture and determine how to best restore the denture to its original condition.
Some denture repair, such as replacing a denture tooth, can be accomplished quickly, often in-office on the same day. More complicated breaks, such as a fracture of an edge that rests on the soft tissue inside the lips or cheeks, may involve obtaining impressions of your mouth and having the denture sent to a dental laboratory for the denture repair.
The ability to properly repair a denture depends upon the extent of denture damage, the past home care of the denture, the age of the denture and the fit of the denture at the time it was broken.
To maintain the best possible oral health and to avoid causing more damage to your denture, see a dentist for evaluation and denture repair. Often, home denture repairs require more extensive and costly reconstruction later.
by Denise J. Fedele, D.M.D., M.S.
