Why Do Dentures Sometimes Become Loose And Unstable?

‘False teeth’ have long been a common solution for a gappy smile, but they are not always trouble free.

We will discuss dental implants a little later on, but for most people, especially in the past, dentures have been the ‘go to’ when it comes to replacing missing teeth. These have been used for many centuries in one form or another, with modern dentures having a high aesthetic appeal to many people due to improvements made over the years.

Dentures are also a good solution for any of our Acton patients who are anxious about receiving treatment. Implants do require some invasive dentistry and having dentures usually requires none at all. So far, so good then, and for many people they do stay comfortable and secure, however others sometimes find that their dentures start to move around and become unstable over time.

Problems with unstable dentures

While we provide top quality dentures at the Acton Vale Dental Centre, even these may lose some stability over time. We should emphasise that this may not happen to everyone and we can discuss this in more detail if you are considering replacing missing teeth in this way. For those that do though, their movement in the mouth can cause some issues.

The most obvious of these is the fact that some people might see them move. This isn’t a great look and can cause issues with self confidence. The movement can also cause the gums to become sore, due to the friction between dentures and the gums. Finally, eating certain foods can be tricky, especially when your dentures are loose. This can lead to wearers swapping chewier foods, such as meat, for softer foods such as fish, for example.

Patients often blame the dentures for this movement, but in most cases, the reality is likely to be different. Tooth loss leads to the bone in the jaw in that area starting to disappear. This is to enable the body to reuse the minerals in other areas as the bone now doesn’t have a role to play in holding a tooth root in place. Although a relatively small loss, this can cause the mouth shape to change just enough for the dentures to fit a little less securely than they used to, even with denture adhesive.

Can this be prevented?

Using a good quality denture adhesive can help for a while, but the likelihood is that eventually, even this will not be enough. The only way to stabilise the dentures is to replace them with new ones, made to the new shape of your mouth, each time this happens,  or to have them stabilised using dental implants. We will look at these now. Please bear in mind that the stabilisation of dentures using implants is more or less the same procedure, but dentures are used instead of a crown or bridge in the information that follows.

What are dental implants?

Dental implants are, essentially, a replacement artificial tooth root. These are placed into the jawbone following the use of our 3D CBCT scanner to determine exact placement and precision.  This does require an invasive procedure and one that may take longer than most treatments to carry out. Once the implant is in place, it will require three months for the bone and the implant to fuse together to hold it securely in place. Once this is complete, a crown, bridge or denture can be added to this by using an abutment, to provide you with a very strong and secure artificial tooth.

Advantages of implants

Once the implant has fully integrated with the bone, your new replacement tooth can be treated like any other and will provide at least an equivalent in strength too. Unlike dentures, there is no messy cleaning required and you simply brush and floss them as you do/should your own natural teeth. They will not move around in the mouth and, providing that you look after them, they can last you for twenty years, and very often more than that.

Implants can be placed individually or to replace multiple consecutive multiple teeth. In the latter case, it isn’t necessary to replace each tooth individually. A smaller number of implants can be placed and a fixed bridge of replacement teeth attached to them. This can also apply to replacing a full arch of missing teeth, with between four and six implants used to achieve this.

Despite the fact that dental implants are considered the best option available; a view we support, dentures can still be effective for some patients and our Acton dentists will be happy to discuss the options with you in detail, should you need to choose.

For more information about options that we have available to replace gaps in your teeth, please call the Acton Vale Dental Centre on 020 8749 3267.