If you wear dentures, they’re going to require an adjustment at some stage throughout their life. However meticulous your home dental routine is, it’s no match for the march of time, which will bend your smile to different shapes at its will. As your mouth morphs and shifts shapes, your dentures may develop gaps and bumps, rendering them an ill fit for your gums. The answer is not to purchase a new set of dentures but to reline your existing pair.
What Is Denture Relining?
Denture relining is a process whereby your dental prosthetist will provide adjustment and reshaping to your dentures to ensure a better fit. You can choose either soft or hard relining, the former of which uses a softer silicone material (ideal for older patients or those with thin or sensitive gums) while the latter utilises a more durable acrylic akin to the original material of your dentures. In most cases, denture relining is a same-day procedure. That said, opting for hard relining can involve sending a dental impression to a laboratory, which can extend your waiting duration to a full day or longer.
Why Is Denture Relining Important?
In a nutshell, denture relining is important because it ensures your dentures are a comfortable fit for your gums and mouth. Having this adjustment done on your dentures will bring about a host of other benefits, too, including:
1. Clear Speech
Did you know that dental and orthodontic misalignment can affect speech quality? With dentures that match the shape of your mouth, you can avoid the slurs, lisps, and other speech impediments that often come part and parcel with misaligned teeth or ill-fitting false teeth.
2. Ease of Eating
Of course, it goes without saying that eating will be so much easier without your dentures detaching from your gums and sliding around in your mouth.
3. Longer Denture Lifespan
If your dentures aren’t sitting right, you’ll be directing all your biting power to a specific spot. This places stress on the dentures, which often leads to premature breakage. A denture relines every few years is key to getting more bite for your buck.
4. Oral Hygiene
An ill-fitting pair of dentures makes for more gaps between your mouth tissue and the base of the dentures. These become cosy caverns for food particles to catch and bacteria to grow. Once this happens, you’ve laid the groundwork for bad breath and oral infections. Reline your dentures when necessary to keep your oral hygiene in check.
How Do I Know If My Dentures Need to Be Relined?
If your dentures bring you daily pain, that’s a sign you needed an adjustment yesterday. Rather than leaving your reline until too late, pay attention to your dentures and keep an eye out for the following signs:
1. Trapped Food Particles
As discussed, ill-fitting dentures will often form gaps between their base and your gums. If you’re finding that food particles get trapped in those gaps, that’s a sign you need a reline.
2. Issues With Gum Tissues
Got discomfort, infections, inflammation or sores throughout your mouth and along your gum tissue? That’s your sign to adjust your dentures.
3. Instability Triggered by Micromovements
If your dentures are rocking around or loosening when you so much as speak, chew, or laugh, you need to reline them as soon as possible.
4. Two Years Having Gone By
Obviously, your dentures are neither clocks nor calendars and will not alert you when two years have elapsed. That said, two years having gone by is a sign it’s time to reline, even in the absence of other symptoms. Think of relining as a routine checkup, like getting your eyes tested.
Can I Do a Denture Reline at Home or Should I Visit a Dentist?
Although DIY denture relining products exist, professionals advise against using them. To reline your dentures at home is to forgo the expert touches and long-lasting results of a professional adjustment. To fit your dentures into your mouth with zero issues, book your appointment with Direct Denture Care in Perth. As expert denture prosthetists, we’ll make your dentures perfect for your mouth.
