Temporary Denture

[Sammysox]

I found out yesterday that I have to have 5 front teeth removed, a temporary denture and then a more permanent solution. Implants may not be possible due to bone loss. I'm terrified and embarrassed and wondering if the temporary denture is going to make me look really odd, will fall out in front of people or make me talk oddly. Any advice?

 

[Suzannah99]

Hey Sammysox!

You don't mention if it's uppers, lowers or a mix - I had my front four uppers extracted last year and had exactly the same fears.
I was too scared once I knew what was needed to even join here or post here - I have huge dental phobia following a lot of different bad incidents since childhood and as an adult too.

What I did do though was start googling and I had a lot of fears laid to rest - or realised that things would be easier for me as I only needed a partial by a lady on youtube called Kalinjax.

Click on Videos and then to the right there is a bit where you can choose a drop down box of video and click to view oldest. Start at the beginning.
She made me see I could handle this and it alleviated a lot of my fears - I just had to deal with it.

As for how things have gone for me (and this was less than 6 months ago).
Day one - extractions and immediate denture - I was home, working from home that day but making and taking calls less than 2 hours after my appointment time.
I sounded like me - no problems.

After about a week and a half my denture became looser due to gum shrinkage and I tried several glues but found powder (Polygrip Wertners) worked for me.
It was a tense time trying the glues and my gums were not fully healed but powder is safe to use that early on.

Since then, I still have my immediates but after about 2 months I had to switch up the glue to Fixodent Plus.

I now know when I need to up glue as I find 'shion' 'tion' 'sh' and 'ch' words sound like wind in flowing through my plate - the adhesive sorts this out.

I'm having a reline next month and by then my gums should start shrinking at a slower rate. The fit of my immediate initially was faultless though so I am hoping the reline will be good - at least good enough so that I can go back to using powder after maybe a month this time (I hope).

Best advice - get in some adhesives so that you are prepared - and denture toothpaste (normal toothpaste is no good for dentures (or you can use washing up liquid even!).
Get a soft small toothbrush, a denture bath and some steradent or other sterilising tablets too.

When you have the extractions - from that night sleep with more pillows which helps keep you elevated and eases swelling. You need your head above your heart basically to help with swelling. I did this and was swollen the following day but it eased away the next day and subsequent couple of days.
Get in soft foods to eat too - biting down is painful/unpleasant when your gums are not healed and your denture is in.
Also, wear your denture - don't leave it out even if you are doing nothing and going nowhere - it's all practice and helps keep your other teeth more stable if your denture is in during the day.

My dentist told me to take out my plate on the first night but by then I was not confident doing so and could feel some swelling so I left them in that night and removed them to clean the next morning.

Watch some of Kalin's videos - she was what held me together when I was approaching and going through this.

 

[Sammysox]

Wow! It's uppers, thank you for your advice. Probs a little more scared now. I'm am big scaredy cat and you have given great advice so thank you.

 

[lauralou32]

Hi and welcome! I just wanted u to know that I had a huge fobia and avoided the dentist for 24yrs! Anyway I had to have my uppers pulled and an immediate denture placed ! That was two months ago and I'm doing great! I did not feel any pain during the extractions! I had no speech problems! Yes I had some bleeding, and swelling, but I was eating solid foods by the 2nd week! I also only have 5 teeth on the bottom and I have a partial. Really you can get through this!! Have a good attitude and take care of yourself! Everything will be just fine! I never thought I could conquer my fear and shame but I did and now have a beautiful smile!! Good luck to you and please keep me posted on your successful journey!

 

[Sammysox]

Hi and welcome! I just wanted u to know that I had a huge fobia and avoided the dentist for 24yrs! Anyway I had to have my uppers pulled and an immediate denture placed ! That was two months ago and I'm doing great! I did not feel any pain during the extractions! I had no speech problems! Yes I had some bleeding, and swelling, but I was eating solid foods by the 2nd week! I also only have 5 teeth on the bottom and I have a partial. Really you can get through this!! Have a good attitude and take care of yourself! Everything will be just fine! I never thought I could conquer my fear and shame but I did and now have a beautiful smile!! Good luck to you and please keep me posted on your successful journey!

Thank you. Next appt 28th April and probably new teeth by the end of May. Eeeek

 

[sanarama]

I was in the same boat as you two months ago. It was a bit of a shock - I had anticipated getting one tooth out, not four. I had a bit of a delay in getting an appointment but I had my four front upper teeth removed yesterday evening, and was immediately fitted with a Valplast partial. I could talk mostly fine as soon as the anaesthetic wore off, the pain wasn't too bad (more pressure than pain), and I slept fine last night. I've only eaten a banana and a wee chocolate muffin since then but it wasn't too bad. So far, I'm feeling much better than I had anticipated and the denture looks much better than my actual teeth. My teeth are very out-of-line after dodgy orthodontics years ago but it's still a big improvement (and the size of my front teeth is more proportionate). That all said, I'm still looking forward to getting a permanent bridge in the future, but for now, I'm pretty happy with the results. It's also looking like the experience won't ruin my 5 day Easter holiday (my office is closed). I might even get to eat my chocolate Easter egg!

 

[sanarama]

Hey Sammysox!

As for how things have gone for me (and this was less than 6 months ago).
Day one - extractions and immediate denture - I was home, working from home that day but making and taking calls less than 2 hours after my appointment time.
I sounded like me - no problems.

After about a week and a half my denture became looser due to gum shrinkage and I tried several glues but found powder (Polygrip Wertners) worked for me.
It was a tense time trying the glues and my gums were not fully healed but powder is safe to use that early on.

Hi Suzannah,

I'm just wondering, what type of dentures do you have? I *just* got fitted with Valplast and I was wondering if yours was too. 24 hours after, my main issue is now nausea. Hoping it improves

 

[comfortdentist]

In general you can almost always graft enough bone for implants somehow in the maxillary arch. This is an office procedure.

 

[Suzannah99]

I have ordinary rigid acrylic dentures.

Have you had plenty to eat?
Lack of food can make you feel nauseous.

 

[Deck2015]

Hey Sammy - some excellent advice in this thread already!! Just wanted to add a few notes that hopefully will encourage you:

1. Most acrylic, standard temp partials need some level of adjustment after any swelling you may have goes away. I had to have mine (front upper) adjusted I think 3 or 4 times. I didn't get that sweet sounding Valplast you kids are going on about. What did I miss out on (Is this the flexible partials that isn't rigid on your palette??).

2. I second the idea of wearing your partial at all times to make it more natural for you to be wearing it and also get past the speaking stumbles (those S's can be hard to get past at first!). Honestly tho, I didn't wear my partial anywhere I wasn't required to...I took mine out to eat, too, because food would get caught under the plate. Eventually, I had selecting corner booths in restaurants down to a science.

3. I think that Implant dentistry has dramatically improved, even in just the last 5 years! I had infection, re-infection and re-infection a 3rd time in a tooth injured in my childhood -- this was the first tooth I lost (upper front) -- I can totally relate to the mourning period of losing front teeth. You do get past that, I promise. What helped me most to get past the mourning period was that I had a plan of action to replace the tooth and just focused on my goal. Anyway, having that much infection and re-infection didn't do my jaw bone any favors - I also smoked for years, which really helped . I was sure my bone wouldn't be in good enough shape for an implant, but I had bone graft and all was right in the world again.

If your nausea is worse than expected, or if you're worried about it, don't hesitate to call the provider who did your extractions -- there are medications they can RX to prevent nausea that usually work very well. I second the opinion that an empty stomach can lead to nausea...also, stay very hydrated...your body just went through a bit of trauma, and it can't hurt to drink maybe a bit more water than usual to keep the body happy after the stress of a procedure like extractions. Dehydration causes nausea.

Also, my partial looked better than my naturals too...don't feel embarrassed about this, it's not as if you did this on purpose. You'll find your plan to replace these eventually and when you do, keep your eye on the prize. I did use to be a bit overly protective of my plate...I worried I'd break it if it I didn't always keep it either in my mouth or in it's protective case. And be careful about denture cleaning tabs..many of the options here in my local drug store were tabs that not only cleaned but also whitened the denture. You don't want to whiten your denture or they will no longer match your natural teeth!! I used to gently "brush" the partial with dish soap and my fingers each night and I'd pop into my Dentists office once a week to have them run it thru the autoclave they use (I'm not sure that's what they call it?). I'd have them pop the plastic case in, too...that case got as dirty as the plate did!!

 

[Sammysox]

Amazing advice, thank you all. Have impressions on 28th, Dentist is worried it will pull the really wobbly tooth but has assured me she will glue it and also said if it falls out, she will snip off the root and glue it in. Nothing strange about that at all. She is amazing. Also found out that the permanent denture/bridge is going to cost around £2,000! How does anybody afford that?

 

[Sammysox]

Did you find it really awful or better than suspected? I'm dreading it. ?

Hey Sammy - some excellent advice in this thread already!! Just wanted to add a few notes that hopefully will encourage you:

1. Most acrylic, standard temp partials need some level of adjustment after any swelling you may have goes away. I had to have mine (front upper) adjusted I think 3 or 4 times. I didn't get that sweet sounding Valplast you kids are going on about. What did I miss out on (Is this the flexible partials that isn't rigid on your palette??).

2. I second the idea of wearing your partial at all times to make it more natural for you to be wearing it and also get past the speaking stumbles (those S's can be hard to get past at first!). Honestly tho, I didn't wear my partial anywhere I wasn't required to...I took mine out to eat, too, because food would get caught under the plate. Eventually, I had selecting corner booths in restaurants down to a science.

3. I think that Implant dentistry has dramatically improved, even in just the last 5 years! I had infection, re-infection and re-infection a 3rd time in a tooth injured in my childhood -- this was the first tooth I lost (upper front) -- I can totally relate to the mourning period of losing front teeth. You do get past that, I promise. What helped me most to get past the mourning period was that I had a plan of action to replace the tooth and just focused on my goal. Anyway, having that much infection and re-infection didn't do my jaw bone any favors - I also smoked for years, which really helped . I was sure my bone wouldn't be in good enough shape for an implant, but I had bone graft and all was right in the world again.

If your nausea is worse than expected, or if you're worried about it, don't hesitate to call the provider who did your extractions -- there are medications they can RX to prevent nausea that usually work very well. I second the opinion that an empty stomach can lead to nausea...also, stay very hydrated...your body just went through a bit of trauma, and it can't hurt to drink maybe a bit more water than usual to keep the body happy after the stress of a procedure like extractions. Dehydration causes nausea.

Also, my partial looked better than my naturals too...don't feel embarrassed about this, it's not as if you did this on purpose. You'll find your plan to replace these eventually and when you do, keep your eye on the prize. I did use to be a bit overly protective of my plate...I worried I'd break it if it I didn't always keep it either in my mouth or in it's protective case. And be careful about denture cleaning tabs..many of the options here in my local drug store were tabs that not only cleaned but also whitened the denture. You don't want to whiten your denture or they will no longer match your natural teeth!! I used to gently "brush" the partial with dish soap and my fingers each night and I'd pop into my Dentists office once a week to have them run it thru the autoclave they use (I'm not sure that's what they call it?). I'd have them pop the plastic case in, too...that case got as dirty as the plate did!!

 

[Suzannah99]

Amazing advice, thank you all. Have impressions on 28th, Dentist is worried it will pull the really wobbly tooth but has assured me she will glue it and also said if it falls out, she will snip off the root and glue it in. Nothing strange about that at all. She is amazing. Also found out that the permanent denture/bridge is going to cost around £2,000! How does anybody afford that?

The glue will do the job perfectly - I had to have an emergency extracted tooth glued to it's neighbours and then another tooth got wobbly before impressions so that was also glued - both survived the impression fine.
My total cost for all my treatment was about £1500 - so yeah, it's a lot of money but still much cheaper than implants which come at around £2500 for just the implant itself. Implants and everything else would have cost me upwards of £10K.
I've got a further £200 to pay very soon for my reline.

To be honest, the price has been all extremely worth it.
Plus going straight to private I got a quote before anything was done (aside from x-rays obviously). One of my biggest issues with going NHS over the years was always being farmed out to a private dentist (always one that was miles away too) and getting hit with huge bills and often paying for the same thing over again.
Also, I do believe you get what you pay for - going privately I could actually choose a pic to show them what I wanted them to look like (my own teeth were not much to go on to be honest. As well as that I got to choose the shade so they matched my own teeth.

If you're really stuck you could go see an NHS place (pick one which does dentures) and you could pay just £243 (last time I checked thi is the max you pay - but covers a 3 month period only) Sometimes this is not possible with waiting lists. Also, some NHS dentists prefer to have a wait period between extractions and a denture of about 3-6 months so that much of the gum shrinkage has occurred by the time the denture is fitted.
If you need any other treatments which the NHS place you go to doesn't do you'll be referred out to a private place and will have further charges anyway (which is what always kept happening to me) on top of the work they can do.
My Dad had NHS dentures once but the quality was so awful he went back to private. This was a long time ago now so the quality is likely much better now.
If you do choose to try NHS you'd want to do that before impressions as I doubt they would transfer them from one practice to another.

ETA: You could ask what the cost of acrylic would be instead of valplast - acrylic would be cheaper - not by huge amounts but would probably cost about the same as mine. The actual cost of just my acrylic denture on it's own was £875 or £975 - I can't quite remember - definitely one of the two and I'm erring towards thinking it was £875.