Since dentures are essentially replacement teeth, you might want to use them at all times. Namely, in addition to eating or speaking with them during the day, you also want to keep them in your mouth overnight. After all, you don’t take out your permanent teeth at night, so why take out your dentures? Surely there’s nothing wrong with keeping them in, right?
As it happens, soaking dentures overnight is a better practice than sleeping with them in your mouth. In fact, overnight denture soaks prevent oral health problems from emerging. For those wanting to know why that’s the case, here’s a summary of denture-use issues solved by an overnight soak.
Problems That Arise from Not Soaking Your Dentures
Because dentures aren’t natural, permanent teeth, always keeping them in your mouth can cause problems.
For starters, gums can’t handle their constant force. While bones support natural teeth, there aren’t any to support dentures, meaning the latter apply extra pressure to your gums. It only makes sense that your gums will be sore at the end of a day from having supported your dentures.
Never taking out your dentures can also cause bacterial infections. Because they contain acrylic, dentures have tiny pores that can shelter bacteria colonies. There are large numbers of such pores in dentures, meaning a large population of bacteria can grow in them throughout the day. Furthermore, this population increases as we age and produce less antibacterial saliva. If you don’t take the proper steps, the bacteria growth from never removing dentures can contribute to gum disease.
Why You Should Give Your Dentures a Soak!
Soaking your dentures overnight resolves both the heaviness and bacteria issues.
As you’d expect, taking your dentures out for a nightly soak relieves the pressure they place on your gums. After a night’s rest without them bearing down on sensitive tissues, your gums will be free of soreness and ready for the day ahead.
Regular, overnight soaks would also significantly reduce the bacteria in dentures. Brushing the dentures as you would your teeth won’t penetrate into the pores that shelter oral bacteria, but soaking will. In fact, soaking your dentures overnight removes over 99.9% of the bacteria in question, keeping the colonies under control and allowing your mouth to stay healthy and odor-free.
It’s currently on record that, besides an overnight soak, the only way to solve these problems is to wear permanently fixed dentures. So, if you’re dentures aren’t intentionally designed to stay in your mouth all the time, you’ll need to do the soaks to avoid gum problems down the line.
Hopefully, now you know that wearing your dentures overnight isn’t a harmless habit. Instead, soaking them in water (or a commercial denture soak) as you doze ensures that your dentures will continue to contribute to a healthy smile for a long time.
About the Practice
Donald Marks Family Dentistry is a dental practice based in State College, PA. Headed by dentist Dr. Donald Marks, a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, it is patient-centric and focused on both comfort and quality results. Dr. Marks and his team have ensured their office is well-equipped with modern equipment for advanced dental care, including the fitting of dentures. For more information on the practice, visit the website or call by phone at (814)-234-0329.
