Remember to Take out Your Dentures Every Night

If you have just received your dentures, the last thing you want is for them to fracture or chip; unfortunately, this sometimes happens. Here are some of the reasons dentures fracture:

Acidic Action of Food and Drinks

Many foods and drinks contain acids, and acids will wear down your dentures. The wearing may not happen at once, but it will definitely weaken your dentures after years of use. The dentures become susceptible to breakage once they have been weakened by the acids.

Wear And Tear Due To Chewing and Biting

You don't need to do anything extraordinary to weaken your dentures; the normal forces that the dentures experience due to chewing and biting is enough to weaken them. Biting and chewing will not only cause microfractures on the dentures, and they can also wear down the denture material. These can cause the dentures to fracture after a long time.

Damage Caused By Physical Impact

Your dentures may also fracture when they experience sudden physical forces that they cannot withstand. For example, the dentures can fracture if you accidentally drop them on the floor after removing them. The dentures can also fracture in your mouth if something hits your mouth hard; for example, if you are hit in the mouth by a flying ball.

Improper Fit of the Dentures

Improper fit of dentures is one of the most common causes of denture fracture. When your dentures don't fit as well as they should, they will be experiencing unbalanced forces with some parts of the dentures experiencing more forces than they can bear. The uneven forces will create microfractures that will eventually cause full fractures when the unbalanced forces continue.

Shrinking of the Jaw

The jaw tends to shrink as people age; it is a normal byproduct of aging. Therefore, if you get the dentures at a relatively young age or in middle age, the age-related shrinking of the jaw will interfere with their fit after some years. As has already been explained above, a poor fit is a common cause of denture fractures due to abnormal distribution of forces.

Temperature Fluctuations

Lastly, temperature fluctuations may also weaken and fracture your dentures. Your dentures will definitely be exposed to these temperature extremes because you will be eating and drinking both cold and hot foods and drinks. As you know most materials contract under low temperatures and expand high temperatures. The constant expansion and contraction will weaken the dentures and make them susceptible to fractures.

See your dentist as soon as possible if your dentures have fractured. The dentist will diagnose the problem and determine whether the dentures can be repaired or you need a replacement. For more information, contact a company like Snyder, Donald DDS.