New Denture Question

Okay, Last Monday I took the very expensive plunge and had all my top teeth out by an oral surgeon and got a denture put in right away. Its a week later, My own dentist saw me on Friday and put some kind of white stuff all over it -he said to make it fit better because of the now shrinking gums. I understand all that. By saturday nite the pain from this white stuff that had oozed up all over the rim of the denture has me insane. He trimmed little places here and there and left it like that. I proceeded to perform a little surgery on the overlapping stuff-just slicing it off with a very sharp knife or pulling a little off here and there. The problem is is that it was a good 1/4 inch in length in the front so it made the denture go way down in front and completely changed the way the thing fit-It literally made me buck toothed and the consequent going UP of the back part of the thing wore a hole in the back where the wisdom tooth was. I was having trouble closing my lips because the front stuck out so far. Its a LOT better today after the trimming I did. Not as sore, but the worn spot in back is awful.

Here comes the bad part:
I was able to open my mouth a lot better yesterday since the jaws weren't as sore and I wanted to try to see what the heck was the matter going on in there with it in place and it came to light from the better exposure that the two "front" teeth are slightly off to the side. I hadn't seen it before because I couldnt get my mouth open big enough to really see, and being on pain pills most of the time till friday didn't help being able to see. I can smile naturally now with no pain, but its OBVIOUS that those teeth are slightly off. I don't care to have absolutly "perfect" teeth, but, Jeez, the center between those teeth is usually in line with the very middle of your face and these aren't. I would say they are about 1/8 or a little more off, and its obvious to me when I smile.

What kind of reception am I going to get when I show up at their door at the crack of dawn tomorrow. He is known to be a very good dentist, but I have no idea if I could depend on him doing the right thing. These dentures are custom made and somebody is going to have to do them over!

What could have caused something like this? Did a measurement get off? or was it the guy making the denture?



In case anyone wants to see the before pano xray its here in the first post:
http://70.97.123.22/vb/showthread.php?t=286964

Don't panic yet about the "apparent" misalignment of the front teeth. So soon after surgery it could be any number of things including how the relining is causing the denture to fit. The "relining" is probably temporary (at least you should view it as such) and there until the gums have healed more. You can get a relining kit and do it yourself which is a lot cheaper than having the dentist do it all the time.

Give it a little more time and give those gums time to heal.

WW, go in tomorrow morning and tell him everything you related here and insist it be done correctly. I went through this with my dentist and now an aunt is doing it. Both dentists were accomodating.

Don't stop until everything suits your mouth and piece of mind. Good Luck!!!

scg said:

WW, go in tomorrow morning and tell him everything you related here and insist it be done correctly. I went through this with my dentist and now an aunt is doing it. Both dentists were accomodating.

Don't stop until everything suits your mouth and piece of mind. Good Luck!!!

Click to expand...

Absolutely! You paid a fortune to have this work done and it NEEDS to be done right. You shouldn't have a problem getting them fixed . You'll be wearing them all day every day and it's important they are what you want. Not what the dentist wants.

They actually put dentures on top of gums that haven't healed yet? why? Doesn't it hurt?

lisa said:

They actually put dentures on top of gums that haven't healed yet? why? Doesn't it hurt?

Click to expand...

Yes and yes. They put them in the minute they are pulled. I choose not to remember that experience if possible.

lisa said:

They actually put dentures on top of gums that haven't healed yet? why? Doesn't it hurt?

Click to expand...

Sure it hurts and that's not the preferred method, but few people are willing to go 2-4 weeks without teeth waiting for the gums to heal and shrink (although they'll continue to shrink for several more months). Gently rinsing the mouth with salt water will speed up healing. But the fact that his gums are still healing is the reason behind my comment not to panic. There are many things that contribute to his situation right now and the dentures having been made wrong may not be the problem. The Dentist will likely want to wait for a while before subscribing to having a new one made. It isn't that he's being difficult, but rather with all his training he knows this is just part of the process.

Ideally the teeth are extracted and a couple weeks later the impression taken. Even after that some adjustments are likely needed.

One of the things that happens is after the denture is put in, unconsciously a person will compensate for the discomfort. You would think the denture would fit right in but I think they're made with a certain degree of slop so adjustments can be made with relining without compromising the integrity of the denture. I think his issue stems from the "relining" which will be taken out and redone. As the gum shrinks the idiosyncrasies of the bone become more pronounced and relining is needed to adjust the denture to fit better.

It could be that your gums still have inflammation from healing and the bones are adjusting now that the teeth are gone..

If the teeth are uncomfortable then go back and have them adjusted now..but if it's what they look like right now..then wait until your gums have healed - then go back and have then adjusted if they don't adjust themselves to your mouth correctly.

Okay...i've decided if I need dentures I'm going the two to four weeks no teeth route...I just can't imagine...

lisa said:

Okay...i've decided if I need dentures I'm going the two to four weeks no teeth route...I just can't imagine...

Click to expand...

Easier said than done. You would look in a mirror and change your mind pretty quick. Or you would try to eat something.

It was a bad reline-when he put it in and jammed it up in there to set, it was tipped or something then.

He redid it this morning and its perfect.

They did not appreciate me appearing at the door at 7:00 am, but by that time I did NOT CARE WHAT ANYONE THOUGHT-SOMEBODY WAS GOING TO FIX THIS DAM THING IN MY MOUTH.
They did.

Theres an actual cut in the back that wasn't there before from it.

Thats the last time I will accept a dentist appointment on a friday when I have no recourse thru a weekend for something going wrong.

Jeez!

They like you having the denture in right from pulling the teeth now. It helps keep the inflamation and swelling down. The worst day was the day after and then this weekend from the bad reline. Jaws are sure sore, buts its doable. The worst is having to eat pablum. I want to rip a steak open, Can't chew on anything for another 2 weeks at least.

WW, I had the same procedure done back when I was very young about 45 years or so ago.
Yes, it was painful and I had to leave the denture in for IIRCC about 72 hours after the denture was put in by my dentist right after the extractions (I had 5 front teeth yanked all at once)

Now that was about 5-6 dentures ago and I still would do it that way. That first denture lasted me a long time because they fit so well! I think it was like 10 years for that one. Some dental plans allow you to get a new denture about every 5 years with low cost.

I'm glad you went back and are now satisfied. BTW, I never had that denture re-lined or anything.