The first few years of having your new dentures, they’ll be precisely fitted to your mouth, but over time that will change. As the structure of your face begins to deteriorate because there aren’t any roots of teeth stimulating the jawbone, you may notice that your dentures slip more often and don’t feel like they used to. These are signs that it’s time to have them re-fitted as soon as possible. Read on to learn five problems that ill-fitting dentures can cause.
Gum Inflammation & Soreness
When dentures no longer fit the contours of your gums and jaw correctly, it can cause them to rub against them, causing redness and inflammation, as well as soreness. The friction from your restorations constantly grating against your mouth can also lead to bleeding and increased pain or discomfort in your temporomandibular joints, which connect your jawbone to your skull.
Difficulty Speaking & Eating
When dentures are no longer fitted properly to your gumline, they can’t utilize natural suction in the way they’re designed to, causing them to shift and slip in your mouth whenever you eat or speak. This can prevent you from maintaining a balanced diet or cause food to become stuck between your restorations and gums, leading to an increased chance of infection.
Damage to Existing Teeth
If you have a partial denture that’s designed to strategically fit in your mouth to anchor your replacement teeth in place, an ill-fitted one could damage your existing teeth. This harm could include enamel erosion, cracks, and chips due to the restoration and your teeth scraping and clashing together every time you speak or chew your food with your partials in.
Headaches
All of the parts of the body are intimately connected, which is why when your mouth hurts as a result of ill-fitting dentures, it can cause your jaw and head to ache as well. Many people don’t even recognize that ill-fitting dentures and headaches are related until they experience other side-effects of the problem.
Angular Cheilitis (Irritated Patches on Your Mouth)
If your bite isn’t properly aligned, it will cause saliva to pool around the corners of your mouth. Bacteria, among a variety of other ingredients in your saliva, can collect in these concentrated areas and cause an infection that results in irritated patches and streaks on your mouth that can feel itchy.
While ill-fitting dentures may not seem like an urgent problem to fix, the longer they’re not corrected, the more of these unwanted effects you’ll likely experience. Be sure to take your restorations to a professional to keep your smile happy and your oral health on the right track.
About the Author
Dr. Rafiq Hirji has over 10 years of experience as a dentist. He loves helping his patients maintain happy and healthy smiles and always tries to meet them where they are. He regularly completes continuing education courses to allow him to provide top-tier, comprehensive dentistry to all of his patients and is certified in Level 2 Sedation. For questions or to schedule a checkup and learn whether your dentures fit properly, visit Daily Smiles MacArthur’s website or call 972-546-4114.