My Denture Journey.

[smirked]

Firstly, some friendly advice of mine -

Don't use the whitening product "Smirk" (or anything similar to this) it is abrasive whitening powder which works like sandpaper. It takes off staining and makes teeth whiter (as advertised), but also takes off healthy enamel. I used this product (hence my name, I got well and truly smirked!) and it ruined my remaining teeth. My enamel was wearing thin anyway due to erosion from the many years of sugary carbonated beverages.

It will inevitably tear away all enamel from your teeth. Like it did mine. And you will notice your teeth looking orange in places. This is because the enamel is gone and you're through to the dentin layer. From there, well.. they rot.

I am currently in the process of having all but 8 of my teeth removed (16 extractions in total). I will be fitted for a full top denture and a partial bottom denture. With the 8 natural teeth remaining at bottom front to hold the partial in place.

I plan to update this as I receive more treatment and keep up to date with my progress. Hopefully this will be useful to others if they're in a similar situation.

 

[smirked]

Update.

Had an appointment today with the dentist. Had another four teeth extracted top right. A step further on the journey.

Everything went well. Quite a lot of discomfort now, though. I'm taking painkillers and the ache is still there but it's tolerable.

I have attached an image with my progress so far.

Red cross are extracted.
Green dot will be kept.
Unmarked are to be pulled.

 

[smirked]

Update post extraction.

Having 4 teeth extracted at the same time is the most I've had taken out at once. I wasn't sure what the plan was for that particular visit. So I just went in blind.

I must say, when the dentist revealed they were taking 4 out I was surprised. But it expedites the process somewhat. So I was on board. All upper right molars... All gone one after another.

Sounds scary, right? I have to say it wasn't nearly as bad as you may be imagining. I was ready for it. I got to a point where my teeth have been more trouble and trauma for me that they're worth (the state they declined to)

I'm happy to say that I'm feeling good and the extraction site is healing pretty great. It still hurts, but considering the gum trauma it isn't awful. It's like any wound, it would be fine if only I could stop pressing and feeling it with my tongue.

"Marla, the little scratch on the roof of your mouth that would heal if only you would stop tonguing it, but you can't."

- Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

 

[smirked]

Update.

I had another appointment with the dentist. Again, I wasn't sure what to expect when arriving. I do have a treatment plan for reference, however this doesn't go into specific detail. Ideally it would itemise everything. I'd rather plan ahead for the sake of my anxiety, but never mind.

I'm well on my way in this journey now. The initial fear of actually going to the dentist was the ultimate test. The anxiety still creeps in, though. Fear of the unknown and all of that.

Anyway, I arrived and greeted the dentist. She's a lovely woman, very kind and soft-spoken. She has a calming and relaxing 'aura' I suppose you could say. She information me that we'll be doing second impressions, with special trays. These special trays custom made for my mouth, will give a much more accurate impression. Bite registration was also taken.

Then another extraction, lower left 6 on the image. Which I thought might be bad. Since the tooth was broken down to the gum line. With only a small shard of tooth left either side. I thought for certain that it would break into pieces and complicate the extraction.

But! I'm pleased to say it came out in one piece. I think there must have been something going on with this tooth, though. As I was fully numbed but still felt pain from this extraction. I almost put my hand up for her to stop. Because the pain amplified after every twist and turn of the tooth. However, she stated that,

"it's almost free, you're doing very well..."

So I dug deep and let her continue. It was out only 30 seconds later. What a relief. Not only for that painful extraction to be over. But also to have those remnants of a tooth gone. That thing was sharp! Damn, the amount of times I bit my tongue with it. Sharp, even after I tried using a nail file on it to dull it down.

Well, anyway... It's gone now. One step closer to the end goal. My next appointment is probably wax try in of the full upper denture and possibly of the partial lower as well. I imagine things will really progress quickly after that.

 

[smirked]

Update.

I had another dental appointment on 07/01/2025. This was supposed to be the wax try in. But due to the holiday period over Christmas and new year they weren't finished yet.

So an extraction of the lower right 5 was done instead. I was glad to get rid of this tooth, it was infected and causing me a lot of pain. It was strange though, because sometimes it would be ok. For a couple of weeks. Then it would flare up and give me problems. If the tooth hadn't been missing a filling and broken, I may have had a go at forcing it out myself. But I feared it would break and I'd just make it worse. So I left it alone. But the pain drives you crazy, to the point I was almost grabbing pliers.

A few days later I received a message offering me another appointment. A cancellation had opened up and since my wax try ins were now ready, they offered me the opportunity to come in.

Of course I had to accept. This was exciting for me as this is really great progress. I attended the appointment and the wax try ins fitted really well. I was advised that they will feel a little loose fitting, but this is normal for wax try in, and that the final version will be much more snug.

Of course, my mouth will heal and continue to change during healing. So I'll no doubt have to reline the dentures or use adhesive on these immediate/temporary dentures.

I was advised that after 6 months they will look into making my permanents.

 

[nickwch]

Enjoy reading your progress. Great job!

 

[smirked]

Update.

It's been a week since the wax try in. I was advised it would be several weeks for the immediate dentures to be crafted. So I figure I probably have at least two weeks more to wait. If not longer... Who knows. It depends how busy they are, I suppose.

I am finding chewing food to be very laborious at this point. But I'm trying not to avoid eating things that I feel like eating. For example, I had some Doritos but thought...

"How on earth will I be able to eat these?"

With great difficulty! And quite slowly - ha! I'm not able to effectively or efficiently chew anything anymore to be honest with you. But I mustn't stop trying.

In the end, the Doritos really hurt my gums. Especially around the more recent extraction sites. But for the most part, not so bad. Eating things like this will strengthen and toughen the gums. This toughness will be important, I think, for using dentures.

 

[nickwch]

@smirked I have just extracted two teeth yesterday (both bottom right). I will venture into the denture journey soon as well.

 

[smirked]

Good luck with it! The journey will be worth it in the end. But it gets difficult the more teeth you lose

 

[smirked]

Update.

Well, it's been a while since my last update. I got my dentures. So I've been busy practicing. I have a full top denture and the bottom is a partial. I have 8 natural teeth remaining (see attached image)

I received a call offering an appointment due to a cancellation of another patient. Of course, I knew I would only be offered a cancellation if my dentures were ready. So I started to get quite excited at the prospect of being able to eat properly again.

At this point I'm working with only front teeth. No molars remaining, and I've been working with this for some time now. Eating was challenging.

But now I had this great excitement building up..

"I'll be able to eat foods I love again!"

Oh, past self. You were so optimistic.

The reality is, however, that it isn't quite so simple. For one thing - the pain of these extractions (upper canines and incisors, 6 teeth total) were the worst I have experienced. Now that's really saying something, because I've had huge rooted molars and wisdom teeth removed. None caused me pain like this.

The front teeth are absolutely, unbelievably solid within your jaw. They are deep rooted and aren't willing to come out easily - canines particularly. I don't want to strike fear into anyone that may be about to go through a similar procedure... but I am not going to sugar coat things, it hurts worse than any other extraction (from my experience) so prepare yourself for some aftercare. Buy pain relief, ibuprofen for inflammation and buy some soft foods.

Because you won't be eating anything normal for a little while. It hurts too much. The gums are too raw and you will have no bite force.

It's been a few weeks for me now. I've been gradually introducing things to try biting. There's a technique to it. You have to re-learn how to eat and part of this learning process is gaining control of the dentures. Biting is putting the food between your teeth and using the top lip to press inward on the denture. This helps to hold it in place along with the suction. It's difficult to explain, but there are many video resources on YouTube to help. I watched a man on the channel "Dentures Vs Food" and he explains and demonstrates these techniques very well.

His videos were incredibly helpful for me.

Over these few weeks the dentures started to rub in places and there have been bone fragments coming through the gums. Not the most pleasant thing but it's a necessary part of the process. I went back to the dentist for a few adjustments and things were better for a while. But then the dentures seemed a bit loose, since my gums are healing now. I tried adhesive but it was absolutely awful.

The thing that changed everything was when I tried cushion grip. This stuff isn't an adhesive, but a soft reline material. It has really helped to keep the dentures fitting well and also making them far more comfortable to wear. Eating is also becoming far easier. This past Friday I was able to bite, chew and consume half of a pizza. Which is major progress. Since the week before I could not take bites from anything at all.

This post is starting to get too long. I'll leave it at that, for now. If you're going through a similar process or are about to - don't lose hope. You'll get through it. I'll help if I can.

Never give up.

 

[smirked]

Update.

Had to reapply the cushion grip today on my upper. It had started to get a bit loose again. It was alright until today, but a couple of days ago I had two bone fragments come out from the upper left canine region. This area wasn't healing as quickly as the rest and I suppose these bone fragments were causing that. Since they worked their way out it's starting to heal faster and is noticeably less inflamed.

An exciting update happened over these past few days. I bought peanut m&m's for myself. The first time I have bought them for myself in quite possibly 10 years, if not more. I wasn't able to eat them because of my teeth.

I ate the whole damn bag.

 

[smirked]

Update.

It seems I've done a much better job with the cushion grip application on this second application. Still not perfect, but my gums are still changing as they heal, so it'll be a while before I can get it right. Practice in applying it and getting the quantity correct is also trial and error. I'll get it eventually.

I'm very glad I tried cushion grip. It's really made the dentures so much more comfortable to wear - and eat with. I'm hoping to wear my dentures and eat with them without adhesive. So far it's going well using this reline material. It's worth a try if you are finding your dentures to be loose fitting.

I have, unfortunately, developed another sore spot from the denture rubbing. I don't have any cushion grip on this area of my partial bottom denture. It's rubbing just under my teeth, at the front. I think I've been, perhaps, overdoing it with some harder foods this past few days. Anyway, I gently adjusted this myself as it is only a tiny area. It was the edge of where it had been previously adjusted by the dentist.

I felt with my finger and could feel the raised area which was rubbing, quite an abrupt edge. So I gently filed this edge and smoothed it off somewhat. Just very gently with the file (I'm using a small emery board to be specific). If I have to take a little more off that's fine, but I can't add any material back. So I have to be really careful.

 

[smirked]

Update.

Reapplied cushion grip to my (partial) lower. It had been a couple of weeks since I first applied it. So I figure it was due to be changed out. Though, it would have lasted for longer, my mouth is continuing to change as the gums are healing.

Feels really good now. From what I've tried so far, you don't need to add a lot of cushion grip material. I've watched some "tutorial" videos where they apply it and use huge amounts of the stuff. It's just not the way.

Anyway, the lower feels great again. Fitting well and comfortable. No sore spots anymore.

 

[smirked]

Update.

Top denture wasn't fitting right again. Decided to reapply cushion grip to snug things up and get the suction back. Applied fresh stuff over the existing application as I thought it might work better having a base there already.

Ended up using too much. The denture fitted well and had great suction again. But my speech was affected because it was built up too much. Won't make that mistake again. It's kind of a lazy option anyway...

Today I removed the cushion grip, cleaned the denture and did a fresh application. So far, feeling great.

An interesting point to note -

Before washing and applying the new cushion grip, I tried the denture without any for the first time in a while. Wow, I mean.. really. It doesn't even feel like it's my denture. That's how much my gums changed since extraction day. Incredible.

 

[smirked]

Update.

Still using the same cushion grip. Haven't needed to reapply it. I suppose my healing gums have slowed down somewhat. I'll reapply the cushion grip in a few days though as it feel it's beginning to lose suction a bit easier. It's been long enough now that I'd be doing it anyway for hygiene purposes. Because although I use denture cleansing tablets, I don't like the idea that bacteria could potentially be making their way underneath the cushion grip material.

The main reason for today's update is to say that -

I ate an apple.

Yes, that's right. An apple. With dentures. I'm just over two months in to the denture life and yeah, I ate an apple. To say I'm pleased is an understatement.

It wasn't easy, let it be known that it was very difficult. Don't be under any illusion here. There was a challenge there and I had to think about each bite. But with more practice it'll get easier.

My natural urge is to take big bites, as I would have with natural teeth. Can't do that. Absolutely no chance. Small bites only. Also noteworthy, I put my fingernail through the skin of the apple in the place I wished to start eating. Because I found I couldn't really break the skin with my temporary dentures.

Hopefully the permanents will have sharper teeth.

 

[smirked]

Update.
Week 10.

Can't believe it's been ten weeks since I had my teeth pulled and dentures placed. In the beginning it really sucked. It's difficult to adjust and painful. I often had thoughts of what might be possible, given a little time.

I ate another apple today. It was still a bit difficult, due to the shape mainly. It's not easy to bite round(ish) fruit. Apples are quite dense, hard and unyielding, which also adds to the level of difficulty. They are quite resilient against my bite!

Once I get started, though, it becomes a little bit easier. I forgot to mention, the skin also adds a little to the level of difficulty. These temporary dentures don't have very sharp incisors. So the skin can be difficult to get started with.

Yesterday evening the Amazon delivery arrived and amongst the parcels - my pretzels! I haven't eaten pretzels in many, many years.

I mean, bar-style, eat them with a cold beer - hard baked pretzels. Not the larger soft baked. I used to love them on a Friday evening with cold beer. But they were well and truly off the menu.

I am very pleased to say that tomorrow (Friday, or Fri-yay! In this case..?) I'll enjoy some pretzels with cold beer. For the first time in a decade. I tried some yesterday when they arrived.

I wouldn't have been able to eat them in the early days of denture life. Everything is too raw and sore. Now that things are healed and feeling toughened up, the pretzels are not a problem at all.

Absolutely stoked.

 

[smirked]

Update.
Week 13.

Tried beef jerky but I find it too difficult to chew. Again it's this issue of the immediate dentures not being very sharp. I guess this is a good thing while learning, so as not to chew up my own inner cheek. But now that I'm used to them... Could do with a bit more sharpness. It would make eating stuff like this much easier.

I tried chicken jerky also. It's actually pretty easy to eat while comparing to the beef jerky. It breaks down much more easily.

I'm not exaggerating here, about the teeth not being sharp enough. The molars are very smooth and some are almost flat. It's so weird (I assume this is normal). I'll be glad to get my permanent set.

OH! I almost forgot.

YEAH, so.. I woke up one night and took a sip of water. Yep, I take water to bed. If I wake I'm usually thirsty. Makes sense to me. So, I lay back in bed and while I took a breath through my mouth I swear I felt teeth, where there are none.

I could feel the cool air flowing over the teeth. It was the strangest sensation. Is this a thing? Phantom tooth, or teeth. It actually brought me all the way to being fully awake as I questioned reality momentarily. Before I ran my tongue across, what I knew was going to be, nothing but gum. But for a moment there!

Anyway, it was a fun experience.

 

[smirked]

Update

Getting closer now to that six month mark. I'm getting excited to get my permanent dentures. Still a couple of months away but I do look forward to it.

The bite has never been quite right with this set of temporary dentures. It's absolutely better than how my bite was with my remaining natural teeth. But it could be improved!

I'm going to talk with my dentist about the colour as well. They are too white and don't match my natural teeth as well as they could. Again - it's fine, much better than my natural teeth were! But you know, for sake of looking more natural. My teeth haven't been that white for many years. I'm in my forties, they're stained.

CUSHION GRIP!

Again, I cannot recommend this stuff enough. It's an absolute game changer. I'm finding that I have to reapply it less often now, since my gums are changing less as time progresses. The package states (or the instructions, can't remember which) that it lasts for four days

From my experience, it lasts for a lot longer. I mean, weeks at a time. Of course this brings another issue - hygiene. Well.. I wash my dentures and brush them every night. I use denture cleansing tablets every few days in addition to the usual cleaning.

In my experience the cushion grip lasts and it doesn't begin to smell or show any signs of bacterial growth. I'm confident that with regular cleaning it shouldn't be an issue. If the cushion grip starts to lift away at the edges, though, that's when I'd question the cleanliness. Since bacteria could sneak underneath the cushion grip material and you can't clean that away.

EATING.

So I've been enjoying eating lately. The dentures have me eating foods I've been unable to eat for a long time. Some of them for over a decade. It's really amazing. I walk through the supermarket sometimes and scan for things..

"Yeah I didn't eat these honey roasted almost for about 9 years - I'll have those as a snack today.."

I cannot describe to you how utterly incredible it feels to finally have that freedom again. The freedom to choose anything I want - anything!

I don't have to consider the sweetness, and how it might hurt my teeth by getting into cavities.

I don't have to consider how hard it crunchy it is. For fear of biting down on a filling. Or breaking a tooth.

I don't have to consider how hot or cold it is. For fear of triggering pain in my teeth due to temperature sensitivity or open cavities.

It's. Just. Incredible.

The only thing I find difficult. Is chews. Things like starburst. Where if I bite and chew down, when I try to separate the teeth, the starburst has created suction. Between the starburst chew and the dentures. So when I separate (or try to) the dentures just come loose.

It's not that I can't eat starburst. I can, easily. I just have to eat them differently. More carefully. You do have to re-learn how to eat. Especially where difficult things like chews, or caramels are to be tried.

Anyway, this is a very long post. If you're on your own denture journey, please know that regardless of how much pain you're in at the beginning - it gets better. It gets easier and there will come a time where you look back and realise it was worth it.

It will require patience and resilience. But you will get there.

Never give up.

 

[smirked]

Update.
Week 20.

I have to update because (unbelievably) I'm now nearing the 5 month mark. Time passes so quickly. It's difficult to believe that in a month or so, I'll be able to return to the dentist for my permanent dentures.

It's very exciting to think about. These immediates are good, but I know the permanent set will be far superior. The immediates are bulkier, the teeth are not sharp enough (by design, since when in immediate dentures you're still learning how to use them, they may cause injury chewing down on your cheeks or tongue)

I'm looking forward to having the permanent set. To have a more refined denture experience. It'll be (I imagine) a lot more comfortable.

 

[Stewart]

how did you lose all your teeth? sounds super rough