Since they aren’t your “real” teeth, you might think dentures never need urgent care. Instead, you may believe the prosthetics only ever require occasional touchups. In truth, though, you’d face a dental emergency when dealing with a broken denture. As such, your best option would be to see your dentist for treatment as soon as possible. If you’d like to know more, your local dental practice has the scoop. Here’s a summary of why a damaged denture counts as an emergency and what dentists can do to fix it.
Causes for a Broken Denture
First off, keep in mind that dentures can break for various reasons. These include:
- Injury or Accident: Dentures need to be taken out for cleaning and sleeping, and often fall out during everyday activities. As such, there’s always a risk that you’ll accidentally drop and damage your own.
- Natural Wear & Tear: Once you’ve used a denture for many years, it’ll have gone through many stress cycles of chewing and wear. When that happens, it’s at increased risk of breaking or fracturing.
- Jawbone Shrinkage: Unlike dental implants, dentures don’t stop your jaw from shrinking due to tooth loss. Therefore, they can become ill-fitting over time and suffer stress that makes them crack.
Why a Broken Denture is an Emergency
Your denture may not be a natural part of your mouth, but it still serves crucial everyday roles. In particular, it lets you speak and eat with relative ease. As a result, your quality of life will suffer if it stops working.
Given this reality, contact your dentist for a denture repair visit if your prosthetic breaks down. With their help, you’ll be talking and eating again in no time.
What Your Dentist Can do to Help
Depending on how your denture fails, your dentist might suggest various treatment options.
For example, say that your dentures haven’t been fitting properly. In that case, a dentist may recommend getting them relined. As an alternative, they could also recommend newer, better-fitting dentures.
If your denture broke due to your shrinking jawbone, your dentist could give you an implant-retained one. Since the latter would be custom-made, it would fit snugly and give you more confidence in day-to-day activities. It’d also reduce or even prevent bone loss, lowering your odds of facial collapse.
Ultimately, a broken denture is more severe than it may appear. That being the case, visit your local dental practice for help if you suffer from one.
About the Practice
Seaside Family Dentistry is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. As led by Dr. Alan Kellner, our practice emphasizes personalized dental care that meets your unique needs. That said, we perform customized preventive, cosmetic, and restorative dentistry, not to mention emergency care procedures. You can thus trust us to help with issues ranging from dental checkups to broken dentures! For more information or to book a visit, you can reach us on our website or by phone at (954)-771-7636.