My Dentures are Stained. Now What?

As we mentioned in March’s first blog, there isn’t any shortage of people missing all of their teeth. The number was something like 35 million Americans.

Whoa.

In Mount Pleasant and the surrounding areas, Dr. Egger has helped many people who have lost all of their teeth (or who had to have them extracted due to serious decay) by fitting them with dentures. Dentures are the subject of many cartoons and stand-up comic jokes, but they are a great way for a person to regain his or her smile and be able to eat all sorts of foods again, all at an affordable price.

But what happens when they become stained after you’ve picked six quarts of raspberries (all the while eating two) or had a wine tasting challenge every night during COVID quarantine?! No worry. Dentures can be whitened back to their previous brightness. Here are a few tips from Dr. Egger.

They can stain

The acrylic resin used to make the artificial teeth in dentures is resistant to staining, but it can stain over time. The same foods and drinks that stain tooth enamel can stain your dentures. The difference is that you can take out your dentures and drop them in non-abrasive dental cleaner overnight and that will often do the trick. Try that with your stained natural teeth!

But stick with American Dental Association approved denture cleaners, and don’t follow the home treatments detailed on the Internet. Plus, when you brush your dentures every day, be sure to use a denture toothpaste. Regular toothpaste is too abrasive for dentures.

Dr. Egger can do it

If you’re still not getting your dentures as white as you’d like, why not have Dr. Egger and our team do it? We can polish the stains off your dentures and then polish them to make them look like new. And we can do so in just a few minutes.

Many of our denture patients have us professionally clean their dentures twice every year.

Can you prevent stains?

You could prevent staining your dentures by not drinking coffee, red wine, Coke or RC Cola, by not eating blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries…and dark chocolate. And don’t forget tomato sauce! Who wants to give up all of that great stuff? Instead, just do a better job at home after eating or drinking staining items. Every night, remove your dentures, rinse them to remove any debris or food particles, then gently brush them with a non-abrasive cleaner and a denture brush. When you eat or drink something that’s overly staining, give your mouth a quick rinse with some water afterwards and this can prevent much of the staining from happening.

If you’re missing all of your teeth, but haven’t done anything about it, we need to see you at Dr. Egger’s. Call us at (989) 773-3560 to schedule your appointment.