Can You Fix Broken Dentures at Home?

When you first get a set of full dentures, all your attention will be focused on looking after them and getting used to the way that they feel. You will have been told to handle them carefully when you take them out and only fit them when you are leaning over a protected surface. In other words, you should do as much as possible to ensure that you do not drop them onto a hard surface, as this will almost always cause some damage. Be that as it may, people do tend to become more blasé as time goes by until one day, Murphy's Law takes over and those dentures encounter a tile floor in the bathroom. What happens next?

Out With the Glue

Your first thought may be to fix these at home with glue products that you might have in a kitchen drawer. After all, it says on the packet that this miracle glue can stick anything back together immediately and permanently, so why not?

Well, if you were to look closely at the small print on that glue packet you would probably see some specific advice and an indication that harsh chemicals were contained within. In other words, you should not use this product to glue something that you put into your body, as you may develop some health issues by ingesting some of the chemicals. And not only that, but you may find that those chemicals interact with the special compound plastics in the base of the dentures and could cause some of the material to melt. One way or another, this will compromise the performance of the dentures, even if they were able to fit as they did before.

The Right Way

Dental technicians do not use superglue to repair dentures but instead go through a very complicated process to achieve the best result. They will use a certain type of wax to put the pieces back together properly and will not apply any permanent fix until they are sure that the dentures are perfectly serviceable once again. When happy, they will use a mixture of plaster and silicone to repair the fracture line, which will be covered by a layer of acrylic when all is finished.

Making the Call

So even though you will be without your dentures for a while until they can be fixed, you do need to call the dentist first and put the magic glue away. The expert will be able to advise you of the next course of action and tell you how long it will likely take to fix the issue.

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