Has the Way Your Dentures Fit Changed?

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has the way your dentures fit changed

Poorly fitting dentures are more than a mere nuisance. Ignoring early signs that your dentures do not fit properly (or that the way they fit is changing because the shape of your gums is changing) is a bad idea for one general reason — those early warning signs don’t get better with time. They only get worse. What are the problems that living with ill-fitting dentures in Yellowknife can cause?

The discomfort will only get worse. Dentures are designed to distribute the weight and forces related to eating, chewing and biting evenly across your gums. If some portion of your dentures doesn’t fit properly, that balance is disrupted. The uneven distribution of weight and pressure will cause rubbing against and irritation of your gums.

Ill-fitting complete dentures near you impair your speech. Changes in the shape of your mouth affect your ability to speak clearly and credibly. If your dentures don’t fit properly, they’ll change the shape of your mouth and may even move in your mouth while trying to speak. That can undermine your apparent credibility, persuasiveness and confidence.

Your diet will be compromised. One of the reasons you got dentures in the first place was so you could eat properly, right? If your dentures don’t fit properly, you’ll be unable to eat more and more kinds of foods — like meat and fresh fruits and vegetables essential to maintaining a healthy weight and diet.

You’ll get blisters on your gums. The rubbing of your dentures against your gums will produce painful blisters that will, if not addressed quickly, result in infection. (Bacteria can readily enter any open wound in your mouth — including a blister — and cause gum infections and a denture-specific infection called stomatitis.) You may also find yourself leaving your dentures out of your mouth to — quite naturally — avoid feeling pain. In that case, though, you’re toothless. It’s not an ideal solution. The better option is to take your ill-fitting dentures to a dental clinic in Yellowknife for assessment, repair and replacement if necessary.

You can also increase your risk of developing a fungal infection called thrush by wearing poorly fitting dentures. Thrush is a yeast infection that causes painful, white, raised lesions inside your mouth. Serious cases of thrush can cause pain while swallowing and make swallowing difficult and fever if the infection spreads beyond your esophagus. People with compromised immune systems are particularly vulnerable to thrush spreading elsewhere in your body, including to your lungs, liver and skin.

That the fit of your dentures changes is not itself a problem. In fact, it’s to be expected. Over time, the shape and size of your gums and jaw may change due to wearing dentures and living without teeth roots to stimulate the growth of healthy bone tissue in your jaw. Well-maintained dentures should fit properly for several years, but even within that time frame, adjustments can sometimes be needed to keep them fitting perfectly.

Once your dentures are more than five or seven years old, you should anticipate changes to the way they fit and begin to consider having those dentures replaced to avoid these complications of ill-fitting dentures that can compromise your health and lifestyle.

The best way to ensure that your dentures fit on an ongoing basis is to see a dentist near you regularly for dental check-ups. In addition to examining the health of your gums and remaining teeth (if any), your dentist will inspect your dentures to ensure they are free of damage and wear affecting their fit and function. Your dentist will take whatever steps are required to prolong the life of your dentures and to prepare for the creation of new and perfectly suitable dentures.