People wear false teeth to replace missing teeth or lost teeth. Some people may need to wear complete dentures, whereas others may only require a partial denture, depending upon your dentist’s recommendation. In any case, wearing dentures offer individuals a broad range of benefits, including enhancing speech, improving chewing ability, and supporting facial muscles to improve one’s smile.
On the flip side, wearing replacement teeth also comes with the huge responsibility of cleaning and maintaining them. While your dentures are not meant to last forever, you can prolong their lifespan with proper care. So, what happens if your denture suddenly breaks?
What to do During a Denture Emergency?
Having your replacement teeth break can be very troubling, especially since talking and eating could be hard without it. This now begs the question, how should you deal with a denture emergency without causing additional damage to the already broken dentures? Here is a guide to help you.
Don’t Panic
Panicking will only result in hasty actions, like trying to fix the denture yourself or gluing them back together, which is even more harmful to your mouth. It’s best that you stay calm, carefully remove the dentures from your mouth, place it in a secure container, and proceed to find a mobile denture repair company or schedule an appointment with the closest emergency denture repair company as soon as possible.
Assess the Damage
While waiting for your emergency denture repair appointment, the next best thing to do is to inspect and assess the level of damage to the denture. It is also ideal to note the time and what you were doing when your dentures broke so that you can make a proper report to the dentist or denture technician. Perhaps it cracked while brushing it or chewing hard food. After ascertaining the severity of the damage, contact your denturist.
Gather all the Missing Pieces
If possible, try to gather any of the pieces that might have broken off from the prosthetic and safely store them. Providing your denturist with all of the broken or missing components can majorly reduce the time and cost required to restore your dentures.
Contact Your Denturist
Contacting your denturist is very important when you are faced with any type of denture emergency. Your denturist will understand that you depend on your dentures for your everyday life; thus, they will do everything they can to schedule an appointment with you as quickly as possible. They will also recommend the best course of action based on the severity of the damage at your appointment.
Try to Minimise Your Denture Use, at Least for the Meantime
Take additional steps to be careful with your dentures during the time preceding your denture repair appointment. If your denture is severely damaged, it’s wise to minimise your usage in order to prevent further pain, damage, or discomfort.
Stick to softer foods such as soup, smoothies, puddings, mashed veggies, oatmeal, and yoghurt. Avoid hard, chewy, and sticky foods like candies, steak, nuts, and raw veggies.
Conclusion
Denture emergencies happen, and when they do, it is important that you understand how best to handle things. Panicking will not do you any good, and in most cases, it only makes the situation worse. If you find yourself with broken dentures, try to safely store all the pieces and immediately contact your denturist and an emergency denture repair service, as having your broken or damaged dentures fixed by a professional is the best way to ensure a proper and lasting fix.
