• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Vernon Denture Clinic

Bringing unique smiles to life

Phone: 250.542.9117 or Toll-Free: 1.877.539.1972
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Our Clinic
    • Mural Project
  • Services
    • Standard Dentures
    • Precision Dentures
    • Implant-Supported Dentures
    • Partial Dentures
    • Immediate Dentures
    • Relines, Rebases and Soft Liners
    • Repairs
    • Features
    • Upgrades
  • Patients
    • Patient Safety
    • Treatment Planning & Patient Care
    • Smiles
    • Reviews
  • FAQs
  • Blog
  • Contact
    • Contact us
    • Referral – Dental Providers
    • Patient Forms

Why Is My Lower Denture Loose?

March 16, 2020 by Vernon Denture Clinic

Complete lower dentures possess some unique characteristics to which denture wearers must adapt

One of the most common complaints we hear from patients is that their complete lower denture is loose. What leads to issues with comfort, looseness, and reliability of a complete lower denture? And what can be done to improve things?

Factors influencing lower denture fit

There are various factors that influence the fit of a complete lower denture and can cause it to become loose.

Lack of suction

With a complete upper denture, the denture acrylic completely covers your palate. This coverage provides suction which keeps your denture in place and stable.

Complete lower dentures cannot achieve the same kind of coverage. They must be shaped around the arch of your teeth and your tongue. Because of this, they lack the surface area coverage that provides the ability to achieve suction.

Tongue and cheek movements

When you eat, drink, speak, and laugh, your tongue and cheeks move. These movements cause contact with your denture. Because a complete lower denture cannot achieve suction, the force of tongue and cheek movements can more easily displace it.

Bone loss

Once you have lost teeth, the jawbone that used to support those teeth will begin to resorb or disappear. The process of resorption will be faster for some than others, but it inevitably leads to gums that become smaller and flatter over time.

With less substantial gums to be shaped around, it becomes harder as time passes to retain your complete lower denture.

Medical conditions and medications

Certain medical conditions and medications can change the shape of your jaw or soft tissue. This change can lead to a denture that fits poorly.

In addition, a loss of more than 7 pounds may change the shape of your mouth and gums which could cause your denture to feel loose.

Improving lower denture fit

If your complete lower denture fits poorly, discuss the situation with your Denturist. There may be ways to improve the fit which will improve your overall denture experience.

Adapting to life with a denture

Dentures do not function like natural teeth. Because of this, you must relearn how to move your mouth to work with your new denture as you chew, drink, speak, and laugh.

In addition, the body will initially treat your new denture like a foreign body and work to get rid of it. Saliva production will increase, and your facial muscles, cheeks, tongue, and lips will try to move away from their new positions, all of which can physically dislodge your denture.

While the adjustment period can be frustrating at times, the body’s responses to your new denture can be overcome with time, persistence, and practice.

Soft liners

In cases of significant bone resorption, a soft liner may help.

Soft liners are a cushioned base built into a denture, usually for comfort rather than retention or stability. However, being more porous, a soft base can adhere better to gums, making your denture potentially more stable and less irritating.

Relines

A denture reline involves removing some of the material from the tissue side or fitting surface of the denture and then rebuilding the denture in order to match its shape to that of your mouth. It can make an older denture fit more securely and feel more comfortable.

New denture

If your lower denture is more than 5 years old, your body has likely changed enough that your current denture can no longer be made to fit properly. In that case, it may be time for a new denture that can be fabricated to the current contours of your mouth.

Implant-supported denture

Dental implants are basically artificial roots to which a denture is attached. They are installed by a dentist or dental surgeon who has been trained in implant procedures.

A few implants will serve as anchors for your denture, providing excellent stability and making chewing, talking, and smiling easy and comfortable.

Back to the Blog Archives

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: dental implants, denture care, denture fit, denture problems, health conditions, new denture, reline, replacement

At Vernon Denture Clinic, we understand just how unique your smile is!

Footer

2910 – 31st Avenue
Vernon, BC V1T 2G4

Tel: 250.542.9117
Toll-Free: 1.877.539.1972
Fax: 250.542.9677
Email: admin@vernondentureclinic.com

  • View vernondentures’s profile on Facebook
  • View vernondentures’s profile on Twitter
  • View vernondentureclinic’s profile on Instagram

Copyright © 2024 · Vernon Denture Clinic · All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2024 · Atmosphere Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Services
  • Patients
  • FAQs
  • Blog
  • Contact
 

Loading Comments...