A Day in the Life of a Denture Wearer

Before you get dentures, it’s hard to imagine what living with them will be like. If only you could experience a day in the shoes of a denture wearer before you made your final decision. Will people be able to tell you have dentures? How hard are they to put in? Do you eventually get so used to them that you forget about them during the day?

Looking at a diary of experiences common to denture wearers can give you an impression of what life will be like with dentures. These glimpses will show how wearing dentures can affect almost every part of your day.

Morning

7:30 am:

The alarm goes off, and already, you need to start thinking about your dentures. They are soaking in a tray of cleaner on your bathroom sink. Still half asleep, you stumble into the bathroom to put in your dentures. First, you rinse them off. Then, you apply adhesive for a better fit. You have had your dentures for about a year, and your gums have shrunken enough that your dentures are a little loose. Your dentures will need to be relined at some point in the near future.

8:15 am:

You are showered and dressed, and now, it’s breakfast time. After you make coffee, you let it cool down for a few minutes. Heat and cold can be hard to detect with dentures in, and you don’t want to burn yourself.

You used to enjoy a bagel with cream cheese in the morning. Since you received dentures, however, the chewy bagel is too hard to manage. Poppy seed was your favorite, but now the seeds would get caught underneath your denture.

You make some instant oatmeal with raisins. It’s filling and soft, so it doesn’t present a challenge.

10:00 am:

You are scheduled to make a presentation at work. You are nervous about speaking in front of people with your dentures in because you still feel like your speech is unclear sometimes. Last night, you spent some time practicing your talk in front of the mirror.

11:00 am:

The presentation went well, but you had to remind yourself to speak slowly. You tried to bite and swallow before beginning every sentence, which made it difficult to concentrate on what you were saying at points. With the adhesive in place, your dentures don’t slip or click like they used to.

Afternoon

12:00 pm:

Time for lunch. You promised to go out to eat with some friends from work. They chose a place that’s known for its massive burgers. You hope there’s something on the menu that’s easier to chew. Last time, you had to cut your burger up into little pieces so you could eat it.

You settle on a vegetable fajita. The vegetables inside are soft from grilling, so they are easy to bite into. You remember to chew on both sides of your mouth. Eating with dentures has become easier with practice—and with the adhesive.

2:00 pm:

You have a meeting with your boss to talk about how your presentation went. In the past, this meeting would have made you nervous. Without dentures, you would have been afraid to smile or talk freely. During this meeting, you feel confident about your appearance.

Your boss has good things to say and suggests that you prepare to present the material to a larger group.

Evening

6:30 pm:

You meet some co-workers for happy hour. You enjoy a beer, but turn down offers of nachos and buffalo chicken pizza. You wouldn’t be able to enjoy the crunchy tortilla chips and chewy pizza crust.

8:30 pm:

You are back home and starving because you passed on the bar snacks. Too tired to cook dinner, you heat up a can of soup. You put an ice cube in it to cool it down before eating. The vegetables in the soup are a good way to get vitamins without the challenge of raw vegetables, but sometimes you feel bloated from lack of fiber.

11:00 pm:

You wake up on the couch with your dentures still in. You fell asleep watching TV. Now you have to take your dentures out and clean them before going to bed. First, you run your dentures under the faucet to clean off any debris. Then, you clean your tongue, cheeks, and the roof of your mouth.

Finally, you soak and brush your dentures with cleanser and place them in the soaking tray. You fall into bed exhausted.

Dentures Are Always on Your Mind

You can adjust to life with dentures. Eating and speaking gets easier with time and practice. But dentures still present some challenges even after long-term use.

Once you’ve gotten used to keeping your dentures in place, your gums shrink, causing the dentures to slip and click again. While you can start to incorporate more foods into your diet within the first couple of months after getting your dentures, you may never be comfortable eating some of your favorite foods again.

Even as you regain confidence, the fear that your dentures could fail you may still lurk in the back of your mind.

A Worry-free Alternative to Dentures

Permanently attached to your jawbone, dental implants free your mind from the concerns of wearing dentures. They never need to be removed for cleaning, so when you wake up, you can begin your day without worrying about your teeth. Just brush and floss as you would your natural teeth, and you’re ready to go.

Dental implants are strong enough to bite into the crunchiest and chewiest foods and still never slip. With dental implants, you can be sure that your smile always looks its best so you can concentrate on the rest of the important things in life.

To wear dentures, or not to wear dentures? Let Cumberland Surgical Arts help you make the decision that’s right for you.