Preparing For Dentures: Part 2

I really want this blog to be a place where I can post information in addition to my experience with dentures.  I think it might be helpful for some readers to see as many sides to this as I can present.  I realize that most of this is going to be me talking positively about my dentures and my experience, but in reality I don't want to promote the idea of getting them.  Some of us don't have any other option.  Our teeth are so bad that dentures are unavoidable.  For me, they have been a last resort and only after I went through 10 years of treatments to avoid this decision.  I will not have a full set of dentures.  I will only have a full top plate and a small bottom partial.  Not all of us get to this point because of heavy drug use or because of poor oral hygiene.  I got here mostly due to taking medications to control other illnesses.  There were a lot of factors going on that got me to this point.

If you can avoid the need for dentures, then it is better to have your natural teeth.  At some point in the future, I might write about how to prevent the need for dentures, but I didn't learn most of that until I began having problems with my teeth.  I won't really include that here because I assume if you are reading this, then you likely already have an extraction date set and are looking for information to prepare yourself for how to care for your dentures properly once you have them.

It's now a week before my extraction date and I am finding myself thinking about the things that I will need in order to care for my mouth and my dentures after the surgery.  I have read that proper oral care recommends to use warm saltwater rinses beginning on day 2 or 3 after surgery.  Then, I've read that there are special cleansers, brushes and additional items that I will need to purchase.  This is my list of items that I am taking with me as I go out to run my regular Saturday errands:

• Polident 3 minute soaking tablets
• Fixodent Original (denture adhesive)
• Denture Brush
• Denture Bath
• Alcohol Free Mouth Wash
• Orijel for mouth sores

This is a list of products that I would like to try out for my dentures.  According to reviews I have seen, these have been reviewed most favorably.  I have read some good reviews on Stain Away Plus, but this really isn't designed to be an every day cleaner for dentures.  It does have daily use directions, however, I have read that this has a bleaching agent in it to whiten dentures after prolonged coffee exposure or after a healthy night of drinking red wine.  The bleaching agent will probably lighten the "gum tissue" portion of your denture.  I really don't want to risk that so I will probably limit my usage of products like this to maybe once or twice a month.

The brands that you use really aren't all that important.  I read reviews on products that people had the most success with and chose products that I found to be most highly recommended by denture wearers.  You can choose whatever brand you want.  Proper denture care after having extractions is really going to come down to keeping your sutures clean and the bacteria out of your mouth as much as possible.  You are going to need a proper denture cleaner in order to remove the bacteria from your denture.  The most common type of cleanser come in the form of tablets.  You need to place your denture in the denture bath; a container used to hold your denture while they are not in your mouth.  It is important to fill up the sink with water or put a towel down in the sink before you remove your denture to avoid breaking them if you happen to drop them.  It is also important to wash your hands before removing or handling your denture.  Then, you can wash them using antibacterial dish soap using a denture brush.  You will want to brush the inside and outside of the denture.  I have heard that using a soft tooth brush meant for toddlers helps to get inside the denture.  However, a denture brush is recommended by the dental professionals.  Rinse them with cold water as hot water can warp your denture and cause them not to fit properly.  Then, you will need to fill your denture bath with cold water, place your denture inside and place a cleansing tablet into the denture bath.  It is going to fizz and remove the bacteria from your denture while it soaks.  The type of cleanser you use will depend on how long your denture will be kept in the denture bath.  They make cleansers for short periods of time for people who may only want to remove their denture while they are taking a shower.  There are also cleansers meant to be used for soaking overnight.  It all depends on what you are comfortable with.

Clearly you are also going to need a denture brush and a denture bath.  They sell these at drug stores or department stores.  They are typically found in the oral care section of the store in the same aisle you would find toothpaste and mouth wash.  I purchased a Sea Bond denture bath and also a Sea Bond denture brush in purple.  In addition to that, I purchased a pink Tinkerbell toddler tooth brush to get into small areas of my denture with.  I also purchased Crest Complete mouth wash that does not have alcohol in it.  I figured I might need that to rinse my mouth out later after I eat or something.  I'm going to have 8 natural teeth left and I was running low on it so that's really all that was about.

At first I'm probably not going to need denture adhesive because I imagine that sutures and denture adhesive don't play well together.  That's more of a later on down the road purchase.  I thought that after the swelling goes down that my denture might slip around a bit so it might be more comfortable for me if I had some until the dentist relines them.  I bought Fixodent original formula to try and next time I come to the store I'm going to buy Poligrip to compare the two and see which one I like better.

I also purchased some Orajel because I figured with all the talk of sore spots that I hear, then it would probably help with that.  I also got some Colgate rinse for mouth sores.  That's another later on down the road purchase.  I'm sure that the dentist will provide me with some type of antibiotic rinse or something to help me keep my mouth clean so that it can heal, but after that runs out I figured that this may help to care for any mouth sores that happen to show up.

These are just some things that were suggested to me by other denture wearers and things I purchased in order to prepare myself for any possible complication that may arise.  I have no idea what kind of condition I will be in after this is over so I wanted to prepare as much as I could to limit the need for going out for things afterwards.  Plus, it's helping me mentally adjust to the idea of wearing dentures before I actually have them.  The girl at Wal-Mart was probably looking at me oddly because here I am with obviously natural bad teeth buying denture products.  Or, it's possible that she thought, now there's a person who needs dentures.  Perhaps I'm over thinking it and she was simply standing there wondering if it was time to go home yet.  Anyways, I wanted to offer up a list of things that you may need if denture wearing is in your near future.  I hope it helps.

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