Hi Doodle bug,

I'm sorry to hear that you are having a difficult time with your new dentures. Most people, young or old, feel a little depressed when they first get their dentures, so your feelings right now are perfectly normal. Not only is there an immediate feeling of "getting older" but there is no way to know what they are going to feel like until you wear them. The positive expectations of getting rid of bad teeth and being able to smile again can turn "temporarily" negative when you realize there is no turning back and it's not easy to wear dentures. It's important to keep in mind that bad teeth will affect your health and once the soreness from the surgery goes away, the dentures may not feel so bad.

We are taught as children to associate dentures with old age. Yet there are many young people who have dentures, partial dentures or bridgework replacing missing teeth. There are many reasons why people lose their teeth but it is generally not due to old age, believe it or not!

When an old person has their teeth removed and replaced with dentures, it is because their teeth have been bad for many, many years or they have severe gum disease. There are many older people who have at least half of their original 32 teeth and they do quite well with eating and so forth.

The dentures that you were given right after the extractions are called Immediate Temporary Dentures. They are going to need MANY adjustments because as the extraction sites heal, the shape of the bone and gum tissue changes. Some people have to see their dentist almost every day for adjustments and others can go a few days in between visits for the first several weeks. The initial 2-4 weeks after the extractions are when the tissue changes occur the most and then things start to settle down. It is imperative to have the dentist make the adjustments so the tissue heals properly and it will be alot less sore too!

Full lower dentures are difficult to wear for most people. Even once the healing is complete. This is because there is nothing to hold the denture in and it is just sitting on the ridge, so it moves when talking, chewing.. etc. Perhaps you would be a candidate for a couple of lower dental implants in the future? Sometimes 4 Imtek (small) implants is all that's needed to hold the denture in pretty snug. The full upper denture is generally held in by suction from the palate. The palate is like a vault and the dentue is designed to fit snug up against it. Sometimes denture adhesive is necessary to hold the dentures in so they don't move around. Just be careful not to use too much because it is difficult to remove from the denture and from your tissue.

Immediate dentures actually serve a great purpose........ they help shape the upper and lower ridge for better fitting permanent dentures. If you don't wear the temporary ones, the ridges will heal flat and that will make it difficult to wear permanent dentures in the future.

Have you discussed dental implants with your dentists? As I said, sometimes just 4 small ones do the trick on the bottom. There are usually several treatment options when doing implants and sometimes the dentures that fit over the implants can be made so they are less bulky which lessens that full feeling.

Hang in there.......... everything you are feeling is very normal and it will get better! Just keep communicating with your dentist and don't hesitate to let him make the adjustments.

Please let us know how things are going ~'.'~

Bryanna