How Often Do Dentures Break

If you wear dentures, then you almost certainly know how uncomfortable life can be when they break. Not only do they make ordinary tasks such as talking, swallowing and eating needlessly tiresome, they can also cause embarrassment.

There are numerous causes for broken dentures. In fact, they frequently break simply because they don’t fit properly. You have to replace dentures from time to time in order to accommodate your changing facial configuration. Since there are no longer any tooth roots in your jaw, the bone that used to support your teeth will degenerate.

Seven years is usually the amount of time it should take you to replace dentures. This is because as time goes by, your dentures will change their fit from time to time and when they do not fit appropriately, they are much more inclined to breaking.

Dentures also break because they are not stronger than your natural teeth. Since artificial material makes dentures, they are bound to weaken over time due to chewing, talking, constant handling, and generally being in a moist environment.

How dentures break

Dentures break in many diverse ways but definitely not all broken dentures require emergency denture care. For instance, chipped or stained dentures may warrant a dental check up but you may not feel like that’s an emergency situation.

Nevertheless, your dentures can break or crack which makes it hard to repair them. You can also lose teeth from your denture, which will make eating, and chewing difficult. You will then probably need to get your dentures fixed because you do not want to lose the pieces before getting a chance to put them back together.

Signs of broken dentures

• Pinching-If you feel any type of pinching on your tongue, you most likely have small cracks in your dentures, which may develop into a bigger problem. Most times, the crack is not yet visible because of the small size and only the tongue can feel it. This kind of broken denture occurs depending on certain factors such whether you chew hard foods with your dentures.
• Gum damage-After recurrent wear, your dentures gum area will begin to wear off. This creates a thin gum area that’s prone to tear. The acrylic in the dentures has the tendency to corrode to the point of forming a hole. If you notice this type of thinning in the gum area, be ready to get your dentures fixed because they are probably broken.
• Chipped acrylic-Sometimes fragments of denture gum acrylic get chipped off the main plate and you continue wearing the denture. This chipped section can cut your tongue or gum. If you encounter this, then you probably have a broken denture.

Dentures are valuable modern dental care tools in the world today but they are not imperishable. Many at times, they break and crack. Nonetheless, through consistent visual inspection, cleaning, and maintenance you can keep your dentures durable for a longer period of time. How often dentures break depends on all the aforementioned factors and as such, there is no definite time frame within which you can expect your dentures to break.