Denture Problems

Hello Judy,
First, if you haven't already, I would suggest you do three things. (1) See an ENT Doctor and find out if you have on going sinus infections and if so what can be done to clear them up..Many times such on going sinus issues create denture issues such as you describe. (2) Get a complete battery of test for allergies to especially see if you have issues with particular foods. (3) Consider seeing glandular specialist for a work up, that to could be an issue.....As far as a denture material void of all you mention, or at least has never to my knowledge been associated with any form of oral allergy condition, is called "Vulcanite". It's a very old material and few Labs are equipped to process it these day's...It is a rubber based material but not in the sense of latex. One last issue I need to mention, during my 42 years in practice I delivered dentures to some "first" time denture wearers who experienced an oral burning sensation and test revealed they were Diabetic or border line diabetic and didn't know they had the issue. In some cases Diabetics have a reaction to Acrylic denture base material...not all patients who are diabetic, but some.
Thank you for writing. Please feel free to respond with a comment or ask additional questions.
F.Spiva Jr. CDT MDT CD
The Denture Pro.

Hello Luda,
While there are many very good Denturist in Oregon I would suggest you start by contacting the state agency that oversees Denturist and ask if they have an available list of complaints that have been filed against Denturist in your immediate area. Or ask about a specific Denturist your considering making an appointment with.
Another good place to begin is with a personal referral. If you have friends, family members, neighbors or co-workers who you know wear dentures, and you like the way they look, talk to them about who they went to and how satisfied they are. If you cannot get a referral , consult your local yellow pages under “denturist.”

Whether you choose a denturist from a personal referral or from the phone book, your next step should be to schedule an initial consultation appointment with the offices of as many denturists as you want to consider. There is usually no charge for these meetings. Before the appointment date arrives, make a list of questions to ask that will help you determine if this is the person you want to work with. Be prepared to ask about their training and experience. Don’t hesitate to ask for patient referrals as well.

When you arrive for the appointment, notice the office. Is it clean? Does it have a professional look and feel? Are you comfortable being there? During you meeting with the denturist he or she will ask questions, examine your mouth and your current denture (if you have one) and make recommendations on how to proceed. They should also make time for you to ask any questions you may have.

As a final step, you may want to contact the Health Licensing Agency at 503-378-8667 and ask if any of the denturists you have interviewed have a record of complaints or legal violations.

One additional factor you may want to take into consideration is whether or not the denturists you are interested in are members of the Oregon State Denturists Association. OSDA members are among the most dedicated, professional, and well trained practitioners in the state. We encourage you to use this page to locate an OSDA member denturist near you and schedule a consultation.

Thank you for writing and do feel free to respond with a comment or ask additional questions.

F.Spiva Jr. CDT MDT CD ...The Denture Pro.

Hello
My 42 years creating dentures taught me that gagging can be caused by more than one issue. Here are the ones I encountered over the years. (1)..Sinus drainage that collects on the back edge of the Upper denture....Sometimes the back of the denture that goes across the back of the palate is not properly tapered up to the tissue, but instead is left squared off like the stair step..That stair step shelf allows both saliva and sinus drainage to stack up across it and can cause both excessive swallowing as well as gagging...Any Lab, Technician can taper that in less than five minutes...(2) An upper denture that has the back edge extended to far into the throat can cause gagging. That piece of tissue that hangs down in the back of the throat is called the Uvula and a few millimeters in front of it are two gland openings. The back of the Upper denture should not touch, go past, or cover those openings. Over extension of the back of the Upper denture can cause gagging. (3)..If a person has their very first Upper denture and they fail to wear it constantly for the first 90 day's (except for cleaning that should only take 20 minutes) and they have overly sensitive tissue along with emotional expectations of gagging, chances are they will. Wearing dentures, especially your first ever, is both a learning and training experience. Your oral structures have to learn the dentures are now a part of the body they need to accept. I'll attach an article I wrote to explain that....To help deal with the gagging, if it's a matter of just getting used to the denture, you can purchase from the drug store "Teething Lotion"..which is used on young children when they begin toi have teeth come in and it causes pain on the gums...Take a Que-tip and spread the lotion across the back of the throat on and in front of the Uvula..also spread some across the back edge of the denture...The lotion has a numbing agent that should reduce the gagging response until you find out which of the issues above apply to your situation and attempt to have it resolved.
Please feel free to respond with a comment or ask additional questions.
F.Spiva Jr. CDT MDT CD
The Denture Pro.
THE FIVE PHASES
By: The Denture Pro.
Floyd Spiva Jr. CDT MDT CD
Copyrighted Material -2009

“The Five Phases” are the phases that every Denture Wearer is guaranteed to experience when they get “new” or “replacement” denture appliances. However, when you get replacements, you should take less time to go through" The Five Phases" than a “new” denture wearer will.

Phase (1)
“The Inspection Phase”: When a new or replacement denture appliance is placed in the mouth, it touches the oral tissues and structures differently than those tissues or structures are accustomed to.The inspection response will be that the Tongue, Cheeks and Lips will examine the object that has been placed into the mouth.

Phase (2)
“The Saliva Phase”: Because the new or replacement denture appliance touches the oral tissues differently than what the tissue recognizes, it reacts as though the appliance is something to eat and sends a signal to the brain to get the saliva flowing to aid in digestion.The saliva will diminish as the oral structures accept the appliance as a permanent part of the oral make up. With a “new” appliance the acceptance may take a bit longer, two to three weeks.

Phase (3)
“The Adaptation Phase”: How many times have you or someone you know removed their eye glasses and you notice the imprint on both sides of the nose, the imprints left by the nose pads? That's adaptation. Gum tissues slowly adapt to the inside surfaces of the denture appliance. Any place that the tissue is thin over the gum bone, you are likely to have a tender spot. That spot will need to
be relieved by adjusting the appliance.

Phase (4)
“The Rejection Phase”: This phase is most noticeable to new denture appliance wearers or denture replacements that are very different in shape and size from those worn before. The oral structures that have read the denture appliance as something to eat and not accepted it as a permanent addition to the mouth, often sends the patient a signal that says, “Look, if your not going to eat this, get rid of it, were tired of having it around”. However, that too will pass in time, usually within two to three weeks. “But”, the appliances must be worn at least ten to eleven hours a day during that period of time.

Phase (5)
“The Learning Phase”: You didn’t learn to ride a bicycle perfectly the first time you tried, nor did you drive like a pro the first time you got behind the wheel. You had to learn how to operate those vehicles. Just as with the bike and the car, you must learn how to operate and use a denture appliance. They just don’t automatically work just because they are placed between your
nose and chin. The learning process depends on your dedication and determination to master them.

Do not make the classic mistake of comparing your denture appliance fit and function to someone else’s. Mouths and people are like fingerprints, no two are alike. To play the comparison game can make your personal experience a failure more often than a success.

Hello Brian.
Ok, first, you didn't say how long you have this set of dentures, so I'll assume they are VERY new. While these dentures may have been made of a different material than the "temporary's " that could explain the sudden discomfort related to the burning issue. On occasion people find that they can have an allergic reaction to regular denture plastic, but not to dentures made of Vinyl material. Another possibility is that the denture material was improperly mixed. Denture plastic is created by mixing a powder and a liquid. If to much liquid is used the excess will tend to slowly leech out of the finished denture after it's in the patients mouth. That excess liquid (Monomer) can indeed cause a burning sensation..It will slowly leech out but how long that takes depends on how much excess was present.
One other important possibility is that we know that some people who are Diabetic display an allergic reaction to Dental Plastics,,,In my own practice I had some patients who only found out they were Diabetic or border line diabetic when they got their first set of dentures and suddenly had a burning sensation to the gum tissue. If you think this might be a possibility I suggest you get a blood sugar evaluation.
Thank you for writing, please feel free to respond with a comment or ask additional questions.
F.Spiva Jr. CDT MDT CD
The Denture Pro.

Hello Tina,
It sounds as though your describing an Upper denture in which the roof of it is "clear" plastic...If I'm right your describing what we call a "Clear Palate"..The reality is that a "Clear Palate" is the same plastic the rest of the denture is made of, it just doesn't have the same dye in the plastic. Placing "Clear" palates in Upper dentures are a very old procedure and was originally done to convince patients one or both of two things, (1) If you laughed big anyone looking at your mouth would see the upper gum tissue because the palate was clear and could be seen through...That was just a way to charge an extra fee for the Clear Palate...it didn't really cost more to create and no extra labor was required...(2) Patient would sometimes be told the "Clear" palate was more sanitary, that to is a pure myth....On rare occasion a patient might be told the Clear Palate made the denture fit better, that too is a myth....All of the above reasons for putting in a Clear Palate was to charge an extra fee when there was no justification for it.
Not sure what you mean by "final fitting"...In reality there is no such thing as a final fitting that tell if a denture is going to fit well or not...There is a procedure called a "Try-In" that is done when replacement dentures or dentures for people who have had their natural teeth out for sometime...The "Try-In" is when the new denture is set up in a wax base so that it can be removed from the plaster model of the patients gums. The wax base denture can then be placed in the mouth so that the dentist can check out the tooth balance when the teeth come together, check to see if the denture is in proper alignment jaw wise and to see what the appearance and tissue support is like.
The "Try-In"..allows the patient to see what the appearance will look like in accordance with tooth shape, size and color as well as placement..and they patient can see if their smile looks like they want it to, do you see to much teeth or not enough...is the lips properly supported...In any event, the "Try-In" can be done as many times as it takes to get the basic wax denture positioned and looking like both the patient and the dentist want it to...There is "NO" limit as to how many times a Try-In can be done...
Once a denture is completed and placed in the patients mouth, it should be immediately evaluated as to proper balance and alignment...Then it should be checked again with in two weeks, or sooner, if the patient has bad sore areas. I will attach one of my articles you need to read to understand what to expect immediately.
Please feel free to respond with a comment or ask additional questions.
F.Spiva Jr. CDT MDT CD
The Denture Pro.

THE FIVE PHASES
By: The Denture Pro.
Floyd Spiva Jr. CDT MDT CD
Copyrighted Material -2009

“The Five Phases” are the phases that every Denture Wearer is guaranteed to experience when they get “new” or “replacement” denture appliances. However, when you get replacements, you should take less time to go through" The Five Phases" than a “new” denture wearer will.

Phase (1)
“The Inspection Phase”: When a new or replacement denture appliance is placed in the mouth, it touches the oral tissues and structures differently than those tissues or structures are accustomed to.The inspection response will be that the Tongue, Cheeks and Lips will examine the object that has been placed into the mouth.

Phase (2)
“The Saliva Phase”: Because the new or replacement denture appliance touches the oral tissues differently than what the tissue recognizes, it reacts as though the appliance is something to eat and sends a signal to the brain to get the saliva flowing to aid in digestion.The saliva will diminish as the oral structures accept the appliance as a permanent part of the oral make up. With a “new” appliance the acceptance may take a bit longer, two to three weeks.

Phase (3)
“The Adaptation Phase”: How many times have you or someone you know removed their eye glasses and you notice the imprint on both sides of the nose, the imprints left by the nose pads? That's adaptation. Gum tissues slowly adapt to the inside surfaces of the denture appliance. Any place that the tissue is thin over the gum bone, you are likely to have a tender spot. That spot will need to
be relieved by adjusting the appliance.

Phase (4)
“The Rejection Phase”: This phase is most noticeable to new denture appliance wearers or denture replacements that are very different in shape and size from those worn before. The oral structures that have read the denture appliance as something to eat and not accepted it as a permanent addition to the mouth, often sends the patient a signal that says, “Look, if your not going to eat this, get rid of it, were tired of having it around”. However, that too will pass in time, usually within two to three weeks. “But”, the appliances must be worn at least ten to eleven hours a day during that period of time.

Phase (5)
“The Learning Phase”: You didn’t learn to ride a bicycle perfectly the first time you tried, nor did you drive like a pro the first time you got behind the wheel. You had to learn how to operate those vehicles. Just as with the bike and the car, you must learn how to operate and use a denture appliance. They just don’t automatically work just because they are placed between your
nose and chin. The learning process depends on your dedication and determination to master them.

Do not make the classic mistake of comparing your denture appliance fit and function to someone else’s. Mouths and people are like fingerprints, no two are alike. To play the comparison game can make your personal experience a failure more often than a success.