A number of people who were dentures would tell you that if they went to the dentist as many times as they get denture checkups, they might still have their own teeth. It shouldn’t be surprising to find out that with dentures you will need to have regular comprehensive checkups. Regular and comprehensive examinations by a dentist are vital to ensure the maintenance of total oral health as well as the proper function of dentures.

A few significant things can, and most likely will, happen to a denture over time. Dentures will loosen given enough time as the gums and overall tissues around the teeth deteriorate. In addition, dentures will loosens when the jaw ridge or alveolar ridge, shrinks in size and becomes smaller as a result of gradual and ongoing bone loss. This type of bone and tissue loss occurs in everyone to some degree or another. As a result, the dentures will become progressively more wobbly since they were originally fabricated to fit a larger alveolar ridge.

Unlike natural teeth, dentures do not have the ability to self heal and don’t have a natural enamel protective casing, thus they wear dentures. False teeth will wear from use over time and are at risk of being scratched or damaged from even the most mundane activities like brushing your teeth. In addition, irregular and uneven tooth wear will develop as the dentures begin to shift as they become loose. Uneven tooth wear as a result of denture loosening can result in an increased mutual and reinforcing effect between the two negative and destructive processes.

As a denture progressively shifts on the soft tissue and jawbone base, it chafes and rubs against the alveolar ridge causing soreness and irritation. In addition, various types of pathology, including accelerated bone loss, can develop as a result of this kind of irritant on the alveolar ridge. If left untreated, this sequence will cause even more uneven tooth wear which will lead to even more bone loss, accelerating on, back and forth. This is a steady and unremitting process that worsens over time and usually leads to the thinning of overlying gum tissue often at the expense of extreme jawbone loss. Unless detected and corrected in a timely manner and without proper checkups and treatment, these problems may lead to the need to prematurely replace dentures.