Relining Dentures

When teeth have been extracted, the body will slowly resorb the bone that once held the teeth. When dentures are made, a mold is made of the mouth and then the denture is constructed. But as the years go by, the bone continues to erode away while the plastic stays the same. This causes gaps to form between the dentures and the gums, which will eventually cause the dentures to become loose and ill-fitting. The good news is that the plastic can be relined without having to make an entirely new denture.

Hollowing out of the inside of denture.

To reline a denture, the dentist will hollow out the inside of the denture without affecting the teeth. An adhesive is painted on and the inside of the denture is filled with an impression paste. This is inserted into the mouth and it sets, thus making a mold of the new form of the gums. A lab tech then makes a model by pouring plaster into the mold. He then cuts aways the old plastic and packs new plastic between the new model and the denture teeth. Voila – a well-fitting denture, almost good as new. This procedure can be done much more inexpensively than constructing new dentures. It can help restore a denture to its original fit.

Denture Adhesives (Part II)

In the first part of this blog, I talked about why not to use denture adhesives. Once all the reline procedures have been tried, there are occasional instances where there is still not enough bone to provide enough surface area for adequate retention and stability. In those cases, a patient will usually have to rely on denture adhesives. Also on cases where a patient would be too self-conscious about a denture slipping while out in public, denture adhesives can be helpful. Denture adhesives come in powder, paste, or adhesive pads. Any of the forms work reasonably well, so which variety or brand is totally up to personal preference. There has been a lot of talk lately in the media about zinc in denture adhesives. Too much zinc in the body can cause nerve damage. It turns out that patients who were experiencing symptoms of zinc toxicity were overusing the product. Only the smallest amount of denture adhesive should be used and that should minimize any toxic effects. Lately, many companies have reformulated their products to be zinc-free, so that would alleviate any concerns.