What to look for in a patient with a full denture

Total tooth loss is a common clinical disease, mostly seen in the elderly, and according to statistics, it accounts for about 10% of the elderly over 60 years old. Its etiology is not only caused by dental caries and periodontal disease, but also by physiological degenerative changes in the elderly, resulting in gingival atrophy, root exposure, loose loss of teeth formed by bone resorption, and sometimes caused by systemic diseases, trauma and poor restorations. Tooth loss has a significant impact on the patient’s facial change and chewing function, and is a potential pathological condition that can subsequently cause harmful changes to the alveolar ridge, oral mucosa, temporomandibular joint, masticatory muscles and nervous system over time. Therefore, the purpose of complete denture restoration is first to restore the masticatory function lost by the patient due to missing teeth. The aim of the restoration is to restore the masticatory function of the patient, to prevent other diseases caused by the loss of masticatory function, and to restore the facial appearance, pronunciation function, and to protect the remaining tissues of the jawbone, alveolar ridge, and temporomandibular joint. The success of complete denture restoration requires medical personnel with knowledge of psychology, geriatrics and medical aesthetics and extensive clinical experience, coupled with loving and wholehearted treatment. It is also related to the physiological and psychological adaptability of the patient. Compared with other restorative methods, full denture restoration requires active cooperation and conscious efforts from the patient to be successful. First, as a patient, should have full confidence, with optimistic and cheerful and trusting attitude to communicate with the doctor to cooperate. In general, patients who are in good health, optimistic, cheerful and good at cooperating with others can easily adapt to the full denture, otherwise they will be slow to adapt, but rarely they cannot adapt at all. When wearing a denture for the first time, there is a sense of foreign body, even there will not swallow saliva, nausea and vomiting, slurred pronunciation and other phenomena, generally after 1-3 months of adaptation, will gradually overcome. Second, to correct the incorrect biting habits, patients due to long-term missing teeth, or due to long-term wear of inappropriate old denture, resulting in the lower jaw habit of forward and lateral chewing habits, so that it is not easy to bite to the correct orthodontic position, and affect the retention of the denture and the recovery of chewing function. Third, when first wearing the denture, you should first eat soft small pieces of food, chewing movement should be slow, chew food with both sides of the back teeth, do not use the front teeth to bite food, exercise for a period of time and then gradually eat general food. Fourth, patients should take off the denture after meals, rinse with cold water or brush with a toothbrush before putting it on, so as not to accumulate food residues on the tissue surface of the denture, stimulating the oral mucosa and affecting the health of the tissue, and the denture should be taken off and soaked in cold water before going to bed, which is beneficial to the health of the oral tissue. Fifth, the best restoration effect of the full denture is less than half of the function of natural teeth, do not think that after wearing the full denture should be the same as natural teeth, temporary discomfort (such as easy dislocation, will not be used to eat, unclear pronunciation, increased saliva, etc.) that is, the doctor’s technical problems and ask to redo. However, if there is pain in wearing in, cheek biting, tongue biting, bad jaw pairing should promptly find a doctor to follow up, rather than forcing or self-treatment. Therefore, full denture is a treatment method that requires the patient’s participation and cooperation, and the patient’s active use, active practice, patient adaptation and the doctor’s high technology and careful treatment are very important.