Have your dentures suffered a mishap that has rendered them unwearable? Are you thinking about carrying out the repairs on them yourself--without the help of a denturist or dentist? Unless the repairs are minor, you should consider consulting a professional first.

Denture repair is not something you can take lightly, no matter how urgent your need is to get them back into working condition. This is especially true when the damage to dentures is major.

If you carry out repairs to your denture yourself, you run the risk of creating a number of issues.

You Could Create Issues With Your Bite

When a denturist creates a set of dentures for a patient, the denturist must work together with that patient's dentist to create a set of dentures that is appropriate for the patient's bite. The bite refers to how a patient's teeth come together during smiling, chewing, etc. But if your dentures break and you attempt to repair them yourself, you could alter your bite.

If your teeth don't come together as they should, you may begin to suffer from TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint) disorder, which can lead to headaches and jaw pain as well as jaw-joint displacement.

You could cause this by gluing a tooth back into the wrong place or gluing your denture back together in the wrong position.

You Could Cause Sores in Your Mouth

If you put your denture back together yourself, you probably won't be able to reattach the pieces as they were. As a result, areas of your denture may then begin to rub against the soft tissues of your mouth, causing painful sores.

These sores will prevent you from wearing the denture and will affect the way you eat and speak.

You Might Need to Replace Them

When a dentist or denturist sets out to repair a set of dentures, they start by figuring out why the dentures broke in the first place. They then go from there. That is why it is important that your dentist see the dentures in their broken form. This will allow them to use their extensive experience to identify what likely caused them to break in the first place.

However, if you repair your dentures yourself, you deprive your dentist of this ability. You could also inadvertently render your dentures irreparable by a dentist. For instance, if you use superglue to glue the pieces of it back together in the wrong position, your dentist won't be able to move those pieces. As a result, you will need to pay to get them replaced.

It is never a good idea to carry out repairs on your denture yourself. Only a dentist is qualified to do so. If you break your dentures and need them in a hurry, locate a repair clinic near you and arrange for an emergency denture repair.