Dentures belong in the mouth, not on the cake

Still vibrant and a great sense of humour at 102. I hope I'm the same if I get to that age. But I'll make sure to stock up on fixative first :-)

To Tell, Or Not To Tell...

Spending time with people now raises a question in my mind. How do we tell people we’re wearing #Dentures? Do we even need to tell them?

Obviously, the people closest to us would know, but new people we meet, or acquaintances and people we like but aren’t really close to.

Sometimes it feels like everyone’s staring, they probably aren’t. Maybe it’s just me feeling insecure and self-conscious. I always feel like I’m trying to get away with something by not saying anything, but at the same time I want to explain why I’m talking differently, or how excited I am that I bit into a piece of food. It feels like I have a secret but if anyone asked I’d probably say yeah I do. But it’s not something I would raise.

So, what’s crawling in your mouth right now?

We’ve been told this since childhood, some of listened, while others were too busy with other things. And maybe now those kids (yeah, my hand’s up on that one) are paying the price for not listening. But now it’s become more important than ever to take note of the simple things, and learn to incorporate the new.

We know that proper hygiene is required with #Dentures. You need to make sure that there is no build-up of bacteria that can cause you more harm. If left unchecked, bacteria can multiple on your denture and in your mouth and begin to attack any remaining teeth causing cavities, toothache or worse; more extractions and the possibility of needing another denture, or a full denture.

Re-learning to Smile

This is probably one of the biggest hurdles for me. For years I’ve re-learnt how to smile to hide my poor-conditioned front teeth; turn up the corners, keep the front lip over the teeth, turn away, hold up my hand even. But now that the teeth have been replaced and they look good, although maybe not as

Dinner was awesome!!

I went to a restaurant tonight, I know I’m making a big deal about it, but it’s the first time since having my teeth pulled that I had the courage to go anywhere in public, let alone eat. So what do I do? Like any bull-headed man I order steak; medium rare, Jack Daniels sauce, mashed potatoes and veg. Sorry, I didn’t get a picture of it ‘cos I’m not one of those people who

Passion and dentures sometimes work against each other...

Back in the day you could have an unfortunate event happen and not have everyone in the world see it and laugh. But those days are gone now. Probably why they invented fixative.

Oh the pain... the pain

The main cause of denture pain when you first wear them is because the gums are still healing. Give them time. Cope with the pain as best you can. You still need to adjust and wear the denture so the best thing is to wear them for an hour or so, then take them out and give your mouth a rest.

Splinters of bone can come loose during the extraction process and these splinters can poke through the gum. When the denture goes in these splinters can cut the gum causing pain and discomfort. If the pain is too unbearable, talk to your

My first day with my new denture

I felt happy, and part of me knew that I was heading back to normality (whatever that was). I could smile again and not worry about a missing tooth showing or the condition of the remaining teeth. Speech was a bit more difficult. It sounded like I had been drinking all night but that is part of the adjustment. All it needed was time and practise.

One thing no-one ever told me was feeling of the denture in my mouth. It felt unnatural, like there was a dinner plate in my mouth. Consciously, I knew it was a denture and all the benefits it carried with it. Subconsciously though, there was a foreign body stuck in my mouth.

Seriously? 12 teeth removed and the Tooth Fairy won't reimburse my dental bill...

It’s been two months since I had all the remaining twelve teeth from my top jaw removed. I’m out of the constant pain phase and have been through the readjustment phase. I got to the point where I was used to the feeling of not having my top row of teeth. Barely eating and when I do, it’s a diet of baby-food-like meals.