New denture wearer - advice needed please

[FreshSmile]

Hi there,

I'm a 27yr old guy from the UK and on the 4th and 5th of May I had all of my teeth removed including wisdom teeth, apart from 3 incisors and a canine at the bottom front and a premolar in the top left and a molar in the top right.
I went through 5hrs of dental treatment spread across 2 days under IV sedation and was fitted with immediate dentures.

For the first 5 days I stuck to soup, mash potato, yogurt and ice cream but then I decided to try soft cooked pasta (macaroni) and it took me longer than usual but I managed to eat it quite easily without chewing much if at all. I have since moved on to trying fish fingers, fish cakes and I even had a go at eating an Indian takeaway Friday just gone. It was a chicken tikka masala and a chicken korma, but even cutting the chicken up into tiny pieces it still hurt my gums to chew. It hurts my gums at the time, a short while after and the next morning. I tried to bite into a fish finger the other day and I literally couldn't do it, my top denture just pressed more onto my gum and caused me a bit of pain and discomfort. Am I doing too much too soon here? Should I be sticking to softer foods until my gums don't hurt when pressure is put on them?

My dentist didn't give me any aftercare support or advice, just said to eat soft foods and let my gums recover for the next 3-6 weeks. Could anyone please provide accurate advice and recovery times etc? I'd be ever so grateful!

I'm petrified of dentists due to bad previous experiences when I was younger so this took a lot of courage and a lot of support from my girlfriend. I sometimes feel like I may have made a bad decision getting this treatment done, but it was always going to end here regardless whether I did it now or not. I feel like I'm moving forward but then for example, I can't bite into a piece of soft bread and I'm instantly set back, in that moment I feel like this is how it's always going to be. I know I'm doing a lot of over thinking, or at least I hope anyway lol. My parents, grandparents and my girlfriend keep saying how well I'm doing, how proud they are that I managed to go through with it and how great I look, but sometimes I regret having this treatment. Granted my teeth were very bad and I suffered with a lot of reoccurring toothache, but I was able to bite into food, eat anything I wanted providing it wasn't too hard, but now I can't do any of that.

Thank you

 

[Sevena]

Hey! I had full extractions and immediate dentures when I was 25, nearly 3 years ago, so I know where you've been.

First of all, it honestly won't be like this forever. I know how easy it is to get disheartened, and to just want to bite into a sandwich or something, and wanting to scream when you can't. And the worry that you'll never feel normal again. I think everyone goes through it.

Did your dentist not set up a follow up appointment for you a few days after? Immediates often chafe the gums, because they are a bit of a "guess" and won't be a perfect fit. Usually someone is given an appointment a couple of days after their extractions, to tweak the immediates to be more comfy. Is there any specific places your gums are hurting, which may be caused by chafing, or is the pain just all of your gums in general? If the immediates are too tight, that could cause discomfort also. Your dentist shouldn't have just sent you off for weeks without a follow-up. Maybe you could call them.

You may have to wait a little longer to eat tougher foods. It sounds like the immediates may be putting a lot of pressure on your gums. Make sure you're taking them out at night to give your gums time to rest. Also you can try eating without them - my immediates were a really bad fit for ages, so I would eat without them in. The more you wear them, the quicker you will adjust to talking and chewing with them in, but it's fine to give yourself a break from them also.

Hang in there

 

[Chelle73]

Hi there,

I'm a 27yr old guy from the UK and on the 4th and 5th of May I had all of my teeth removed including wisdom teeth, apart from 3 incisors and a canine at the bottom front and a premolar in the top left and a molar in the top right.
I went through 5hrs of dental treatment spread across 2 days under IV sedation and was fitted with immediate dentures.

For the first 5 days I stuck to soup, mash potato, yogurt and ice cream but then I decided to try soft cooked pasta (macaroni) and it took me longer than usual but I managed to eat it quite easily without chewing much if at all. I have since moved on to trying fish fingers, fish cakes and I even had a go at eating an Indian takeaway Friday just gone. It was a chicken tikka masala and a chicken korma, but even cutting the chicken up into tiny pieces it still hurt my gums to chew. It hurts my gums at the time, a short while after and the next morning. I tried to bite into a fish finger the other day and I literally couldn't do it, my top denture just pressed more onto my gum and caused me a bit of pain and discomfort. Am I doing too much too soon here? Should I be sticking to softer foods until my gums don't hurt when pressure is put on them?

My dentist didn't give me any aftercare support or advice, just said to eat soft foods and let my gums recover for the next 3-6 weeks. Could anyone please provide accurate advice and recovery times etc? I'd be ever so grateful!

I'm petrified of dentists due to bad previous experiences when I was younger so this took a lot of courage and a lot of support from my girlfriend. I sometimes feel like I may have made a bad decision getting this treatment done, but it was always going to end here regardless whether I did it now or not. I feel like I'm moving forward but then for example, I can't bite into a piece of soft bread and I'm instantly set back, in that moment I feel like this is how it's always going to be. I know I'm doing a lot of over thinking, or at least I hope anyway lol. My parents, grandparents and my girlfriend keep saying how well I'm doing, how proud they are that I managed to go through with it and how great I look, but sometimes I regret having this treatment. Granted my teeth were very bad and I suffered with a lot of reoccurring toothache, but I was able to bite into food, eat anything I wanted providing it wasn't too hard, but now I can't do any of that.

Thank you

Hi

I am pretty much in the same boat as you. I had all my uppers removed last Tuesday and three bottom molars and I'm finding it very difficult. I can't hardly eat anything of substance. I had an infection too which made it worse. I'm finding it really hard psychologically.

I was afraid to leave my immediates out all night but after reading this thread I think I shall try this tonight. I'm hoping the end is near because its really difficult

x

 

[FreshSmile]

Hey! I had full extractions and immediate dentures when I was 25, nearly 3 years ago, so I know where you've been.

First of all, it honestly won't be like this forever. I know how easy it is to get disheartened, and to just want to bite into a sandwich or something, and wanting to scream when you can't. And the worry that you'll never feel normal again. I think everyone goes through it.

Did your dentist not set up a follow up appointment for you a few days after? Immediates often chafe the gums, because they are a bit of a "guess" and won't be a perfect fit. Usually someone is given an appointment a couple of days after their extractions, to tweak the immediates to be more comfy. Is there any specific places your gums are hurting, which may be caused by chafing, or is the pain just all of your gums in general? If the immediates are too tight, that could cause discomfort also. Your dentist shouldn't have just sent you off for weeks without a follow-up. Maybe you could call them.

You may have to wait a little longer to eat tougher foods. It sounds like the immediates may be putting a lot of pressure on your gums. Make sure you're taking them out at night to give your gums time to rest. Also you can try eating without them - my immediates were a really bad fit for ages, so I would eat without them in. The more you wear them, the quicker you will adjust to talking and chewing with them in, but it's fine to give yourself a break from them also.

Hang in there

Thank you for your reply and understanding, really appreciate it!

I just got off the phone to the dentist and I have an appointment tomorrow morning so hopefully they'll make some adjustments to my dentures as I have noticed I have a sore on my gum in the top left area just above where the denture sits. I also have noticed I have a piece of bone/tooth poking through my gum in the bottom left, do these remove themselves? From touching it, it doesn't feel lose at all. I'd rather not have the dentist do anymore work, I feel like I have put myself through enough recently. But having that piece of bone/tooth poking out hurts when I put pressure on that part of my mouth, roughly 2-3 teeth back from my bottom left canine.
Apart from that I don't think I'm getting pain anywhere else when I put pressure on my gums.

I'd rather keep them in and take them out to clean them during the day, I hate taking them out and the thought of keeping them out overnight upsets me My girlfriend knows what I've had done but she knows that I don't want her to see me without them in as I'm not even comfortable or accepting of it myself, as bad as that sounds I don't mean it in a bad way, it's just an insecurity I guess.

I don't think I could manage eating without them, do your gums toughen up after a while? Seems like quite a challenge to chew with gums.

 

[FreshSmile]

Hi

I am pretty much in the same boat as you. I had all my uppers removed last Tuesday and three bottom molars and I'm finding it very difficult. I can't hardly eat anything of substance. I had an infection too which made it worse. I'm finding it really hard psychologically.

I was afraid to leave my immediates out all night but after reading this thread I think I shall try this tonight. I'm hoping the end is near because its really difficult

x

What sort of food have you been eating? It is quite upsetting not being able to eat a simple sandwich or chew a bit of soft chicken. Psychologically it is very difficult, I have to agree with you there!

Do you have anyone to turn to, perhaps a partner, parents? My girlfriend has been by my side through this journey making sure I'm ok, telling me how well I'm doing, making me soft food and blending things etc. Having her with me has made everything a million times easier and better. I'm not the type of person to reach out for help I'm quite stubborn lol, but if you can reach out to someone close by I highly recommend it.

 

[Sevena]

It's normal for shards to poke out after extractions. They'll come out on their own eventually, or the dentist can pull them out, it's up to you.

It's also up to you whether you wear your dentures at night or not. However, your gums do benefit from having time to breathe and be coated in natural saliva. You can get mouth infections from wearing dentures at night, so watch out for that in future. Make sure to take them out often and give them a good cleaning. You can buy special cleaner for them.

When I ate without mine in, I pretty much just mashed the food against the roof of my mouth at first (nowadays I can use my gums, they are pretty tough).