Husband Refuses to Wear His Dentures

I’m at my wits end with my husband. First, he went for a few years with no bottom teeth. I finally talked him into getting dentures and now he won’t wear them. When he does, he takes them out when we eat. It’s disgusting enough at home, but when we’re out, he just sets them on the table for all and sundry to see. When I ask him why he said food get under them and they move when he chews. Any advice?

Laura

Dear Laura,

Implant overdentures keep dentures secure without gagging.

So you’re not too hard on your husband, many denture patients feel the same way as he does. Even the best fitting dentures reduce your chewing capacity by 50%. If they’re ill-fitting, as it sounds your husband’s dentures are, then it’s even worse.

The first thing I recommend is for your husband to get his dentures more properly fitted. His dentist should do that for free. That’s actually a short-term solution, but it’s free and it will improve the situation. It won’t fix it and he still won’t love his dentures. It’s just to help in the meantime.

For the long term, I’d highly recommend he invests in implant overdentures, pictured above. This uses four to six dental implants and secures the dentures to them.

Benefits of Implant Overdentures

The first obvious benefit is they’re secured. Your husband mentioned that his dentures move. With implant overdentures that will not happen. They are completely secure.

Another benefit is his chewing capacity will be greatly increased. He’ll feel like he has regular teeth again. However, the biggest benefit has nothing to do with movement or chewing. It can literally save his jawbone.

When his teeth were removed, his body began to reabsorb the minerals in his jawbone, thinking he no longer needs them because the roots of his teeth are gone. However, that causes his jawbone to shrink. This is known as facial collapse.

Not only does this make him look years older than he is, but there’s a much more serious (and dangerous) consequence. Eventually, there won’t be enough jawbone left for him to even retain his dentures, making him unable to eat and reduced to a liquid diet. This can devastate his health.

The sooner he does this the better because he’s already losing bone structure.

This blog is brought to you by Naperville Dentist Dr. David Newkirk.