Do Your Dentures Need Relined? Here’s What to Expect

Losing several or an entire arch of teeth can change your life, making it difficult to do basic daily tasks like eating and speaking. When you restore your smile with a set of full or partial dentures, you can improve your oral health and emotional wellbeing, allowing you to truly enjoy your smile again. With proper maintenance, your prosthetic can continue to serve you for years to come, but over time, as your jawbone shrinks, they’ll likely need to be relined to ensure a proper fit. Read on to learn what this process looks like and how you can tell that your full or partial denture needs to be adjusted.

How to Tell if Your Dentures Need to Be Relined

Dentures need to be relined predominantly due to the underlying supportive bone structure eroding with time. This occurs because the roots of your teeth are no longer stimulating the structure and providing it with vital blood flow, signaling the bone to keep regenerating. Over time, this can cause a variety of side-effects, including:

• Slipping and shifting dentures whenever you eat or speak.
• Thrush, or oral infections.
• Irritation and ulcers on the gums.
• General discomfort while wearing dentures.

Getting Your Dentures Relined

Getting your dentures relined can be completed within a single appointment or a few days, depending on what type of relining you require. This process involves adding material to the inner portion of your denture that fits over your gums to hold them in place.

First, your dentist will capture impressions of your mouth to create a digital profile of your new oral structure. If the adjustments needed are small, your dentist may be able to complete your relining in-office. However, if larger changes need to be made, they’ll likely need to ship your prosthetic to a dental laboratory, which would mean that you wouldn’t have access to your prosthetic for several days. In any case, this is a small price to pay for functional, comfortable, and confidence-boosting dentures!

Visiting Your Dentist for Routine Checkups

Just like with your natural teeth, routine checkups and professional denture cleanings are necessary to ensure your prosthetic continues functioning and fitting as it should. Typically, relining occurs every one to two years, and replacement dentures are required every seven years, but allowing your dentist to complete routine inspections of your prosthetic will help them take proactive measures to preserve your replacement teeth. This means you can worry less and get the most out of your denture.

About the Practice

At McComb Family Dental, our team is led by three experienced, compassionate, and highly knowledgeable dentists, Dr. Nancy Dysinger, Dr. Kimberli Crates Best, and Dr. Emily Crates Heintzelman. With a shared passion for providing patients with exceptional, life-changing dentistry, they’re proud to have been the go-to choice for countless patients looking to rebuild their smiles. They offer leading-edge implant dentures as well as traditional full and partial dentures, giving patients the ability to choose the option that best fits their lifestyle and smile goals. For questions or to schedule a consultation, visit our website or call 419-293-2335.