Caring for Your Full Dentures

At Sachem Dental we love providing our patients with right tools to enjoy a beautiful smile. Now that you have a new set of dentures, you’ll need to know how to take care of them in order to keep them looking great and feeling comfortable.

The Denture Cleaning Process

Let’s begin with what to do during the day. Your denture is likely being worn throughout all waking hours. After you eat, it’s a great idea to get in the habit of removing it, brushing it, and rinse out your mouth.

Like our natural teeth, dentures collect plaque buildup. Just because they’re not “real” teeth doesn’t mean that they don’t need to be brushed.

As part of your bedtime routine, you’ll still have a new routine to keep in mind. You’ll need to keep a few things on hand, including the following:

Denture Box
Denture Brush
Overnight Denture Cleaning Tablets
Regular Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Tongue Scraper
Mouthwash

First, place some water in your denture box and drop a cleaning tablet in it to dissolve. Next, remove your denture and brush it with a denture brush and toothpaste. Be sure to scrub the teeth well. Also, brush the colored acrylic on both the inside and outside of denture. Once you’re done with that, rinse it with water and place the appliance in the box for it to soak overnight in the cleaning solution.

Now that your denture has gone to bed for the night, you’ll need to grab your regular toothbrush and toothpaste. Brush your gums and the roof of your mouth. A tongue scraper would be good to have as well, to help sanitize your tongue. At a minimum, you could brush your tongue with the toothbrush. Lastly, rinse your mouth with mouthwash and you’re done.

The next morning when you wake, you’ll clean your mouth again, just like you did the night before. Grab your denture out of the box with the cleaning solution and rinse it off while gently brushing away any loosened debris. Then insert it into your mouth and go about your day.

Never Wear Your Denture at Night

Removing your denture at night is a must!

While you sleep, it’ll give your mouth a chance to recover from the constant pressure of the appliance. This can help reduce bone and gum loss, which are vital for holding your denture in place. Lack of a sufficient amount of bone will cause you to have to use denture adhesive. You could also possibly end up needing expensive implants to help hold your appliance in place.

Your gums will also benefit if you remove your denture at night. It’ll give them a chance to breathe and get beneficial anti-bacterial fighting agents from your saliva. If not, they’ll likely become red and inflamed.

Constantly wearing your denture also causes bad breath.