I had six extractions and immediate dentures placed a few days ago. Everything was going well, but then when I took the denture out this evening, I felt around the sorest area in my mouth and was applying oragel when I felt there was still some bone there where one extraction was. Any suggestions about what to do about the bone still in my gums?
- Richard from Florida
Richard,
After extractions, especially when there are multiple extractions, there often are sharp and thin pieces of bone between the teeth that are left. Eventually your body smoothes these over and fills in the sockets with new bone. When you’re having a denture made, any sharp edges that poke out and will make wearing the denture uncomfortable are trimmed. This procedure is called an alveoloplasty. But dentists don’t like to trim away too much bone, because the more bone you have, the more solid and stable the denture is.
If you have pieces of bone under your immediate denture and they aren’t causing you discomfort, I’d leave them alone.
And I don’t know what your dentist told you, but you have to be very careful to follow instructions after having an immediate denture placed. If you take it out when you aren’t supposed to, you may not be able to get it back in. It can be a week before it’s safe to take it out.
Other information:
Read about implant dentures – more secure and stable than removable dentures.
Read more about complete dentures from mynewsmile.com