In most cases, your Denturist can restore a damaged denture to its original state. Repairs may be required when breakage or chipping occurs, when one or more teeth need to be added to an existing denture (due to tooth extraction), or because of wear and tear.

Most repairs can easily be done in one day. If your denture requires a repair, it may be indicative of underlying problems, including age of the denture, worn teeth, or poor fit. Your Denturist is the professional who can best explain how to best remedy the situation and to prevent denture breakage from occurring in the future.

If a denture fractures under normal usage in the mouth and subsequently needs to be repaired, it is most likely to break again if the source or reason behind the cause of the fracture remains.  In most circumstances, merely repairing a denture is insufficient in order to stop the denture from breaking again.  Repairing merely treats the symptom and does not address the root cause of the problem.  In some instances, fractures or breakage can be accommodated by adjusting the denture teeth where they meet each other or by entirely replacing the denture.

Dentures break at their weakest point and also at the point where the stresses are greatest, most often down the middle of a full denture or knocking a tooth off a full or partial denture.

The life expectancy of any denture is generally 5-8 years if the denture is maintained with relining and occasionally adjusted.

Fractures typically occur after the denture is approximately 2 years old. The second anniversary also corresponds with the time in which the denture begins to fit poorly due to naturally occurring shrinkage of the bone (gums) in the mouth. This “looseness” of the denture may or may not be noticeable to the wearer. This is due to the fact that the changes in the gums occur over an extended period of time, very slowly.

The denture wearer usually adapts to the inability of the denture to perform adequately, and they come to accept this looseness as normal. This is why many people have lived 20-30 years with the same dentures, never having relined or replaced them. They have merely come to accept this inefficiency as normal. Their definition of chewing well has in fact changed quite dramatically over the years.

Broken, worn or ill-fitting dentures need not always be replaced. In fact, your Denturist can assess very quickly if you’re a candidate for a rebase, reline or repair. In the case of repairs, The Conrad Denture Clinic offers same-day service.