I am at my ropes end with my husband. He got his dentures several months ago and just will not wear them. He leaves them by the bedsit constantly. We were going out to dinner the other night with friends and I begged him to put them in. Eventually, he agreed to but we’d hardly eaten for a few minutes before he took them completely out of his mouth and sat them on the dinner table! I was mortified. Our friends were kind enough to pretend not to notice. When we got back in the car I was furious and let him know! He insists he just doesn’t like them but can’t specify why. Is there any way to get him to wear these dentures? I can’t live like this. I’m afraid to go anywhere with him.
Angie
Dear Angie,
That is tough. Husbands can be stubborn. It is interesting to me that you said he left his dentures in until just after he started eating. One thing to note about dentures is even the best fitting ones will reduce your chewing capacity by 50%. I’m guessing, and it is just a guess, that your husband is absolutely miserable in dentures. Many patients never adjust to them. It may just be his stubborn pride that
won’t admit what was going on.
The best thing you can do for him is see if he would be open to having dental implants placed. They are more expensive, but have a much higher patient satisfaction rate than any other tooth replacement. If he hasn’t been in dentures for too long it should be a simple matter of having the implants placed, then after a period of healing and time for the bone to integrate with the fixtures, a new set of dentures. Can be anchored to them.
If he’s lost a lot of his bone structure, it isn’t a deal breaker. However, he will need a bone grafting procedure in order to build back up the bone he’s lost. After that the procedure is just as listed directly above.
He’ll find that his quality of life goes up tremendously. He can eat whatever he wants without trouble. And, here’s the part you love, he can’t take them out! In all honesty, he won’t want to either.
As a side note, you will want a dentist who can do the surgery as well as the restoration.
This blog is brought to you by Libertyville, IL Dentist Dr. David Potts.