Welcome to the world of denture wearing! It's a big world. For today, more than 5 million Canadian adults are wearing dentures. That is more than one out of every four people in Canada!

So wearing dentures really is not unusual. And when approached positively and used properly, dentures can become almost as natural as putting on your shoes in the morning and taking them off at night.

Your Custom Made Dentures

Your Denturist spends a great deal of time and skill in fabricating your dentures "Custom-made" based on your denture needs. It is important to follow instructions concerning their proper use and care. As a denture wearer you must realize that new dentures will feel strange and unnatural at first, and that you must spend some time and effort in learning to adjust to them before they become second nature

Denture feel
You will notice right away that your new dentures seem very large in your mouth.
You may even experience a gag reaction to their fullness, particularly in the back of your mouth. This is a normal first reaction. Be patient. In time, with a little practice, you will adjust naturally to this initial fullness, and barley notice them in your mouth.

Excess Saliva
When you first receive your denture, you probably will notice an increase in the flow of saliva in your mouth. Again, this is a normal response to the unfamiliar object in your mouth, namely the denture.  On average, the most of us swallow about 600 time a day. For the first few days of wearing your new dentures, you should try to swallow more frequently. In a few days "sometimes in just a few hours", your mouth will become accustom to the dentures and saliva flow will return to normal.

Speaking
Many new denture wearers have difficulty with their speech at first. A common problem is pronouncing words containing "S" sounds. In most cases, practicing speech aloud with your new dentures in place will help restore your normal speaking quality quickly. One of the best practice methods is to read aloud from a  book or magazine in front of a mirror to get use to the new teeth. This will add confidence and comfort. Another good habit is to bite and swallow prior to speaking to "set" the dentures in position to improve clarity.

Eating
A basic fact of denture life is that you will not be able to bite down as hard as you could with natural teeth.
Therefore, you can no longer chew in quite the same way.
People with natural teeth chew on one side of the mouth and then on the side. With dentures, you must take smaller bites and learn to chew on both sides of the mouth at the same time to prevent the dentures from rocking and dislodging. Here, again it is a matter of patience and practice before you will be able to eat your favorite foods without difficulty.

Retentive Aids

Why? When? and Which to use?
No matter how well your denture are made and no matter how perfect their initial fit, there are certain times and circumstances that will make a denture adhesive a useful means of maintaining denture stability.

During the break-in period,   a denture adhesive can provide added comfort and confidence while you are relearning your eating and speaking skills. And if you have an overly thin ridge of supporting bone, or an abnormality in your supporting tissues, a denture adhesive may be a necessary retentive aid. Certain medications and even weight loss may also interfere with denture fit. You may simply desire an adhesive for the extra stability it offers. Your Denturist can recommend adhesives to meet your denture needs.

The two basic types of denture adhesives used often are, powders and creams.

Powder adhesives are usually recommended for patients with normal anatomical mouth structures to help them adapt more easily to their new dentures. The thin adhesives gel created by the powder reinforces the seal between the denture and underlying tissue so that air, saliva or food particles cannot seep in and disturb the perfect fit.

Cream adhesives provide extra comfort and cushioning that's often needed to overcome difficulties for patients with descending abnormalities such as bony ridges and abruptly descending palates. The softer creams also help cushion tender tissue during the healing period after tooth extraction. Your Denturist may advise you to try a cream to help provide extra stability in the more difficult lower denture.

A denture adhesive is not a substitute for dentures that have loss their perfect fit through natural changes in the mouth or destructive habits such as gum chewing, nail biting and teeth grinding. Therefore, it is important that you see your Denturist twice a year for a denture checkup to see if a refitting or relining may be needed.
Regular denture check-ups are much less expensive than having a whole new set of dentures made as the result of simple neglect.