You should wear your dentures for as long as you need throughout the day to perform tooth functions. However, remember to take them out at night and soak them in a denture-cleaning solution to maintain their moisture. 

Don’t be tempted to keep your dentures in overnight, as this can cause bacteria to build up in the mouth, leading to oral thrush and gum disease. Your oral tissues also need rest from the constant pressure the dentures place against them throughout the day.

Ideally, you should be keeping your dentures in all day and only take them out at night. However, when you first start wearing a new denture, it can feel uncomfortable and may even cause some mild pain.

As you adjust to the denture over this first month, you should keep your dentures in for at least 8 hours a day. This is enough time for your gums and jawbone to get used to the dentures without requiring you to feel extreme discomfort. 

Wearing your dentures for this long prevents sore spots from forming. The only exception to this is that your dentist may advise you to keep your dentures in all the time for the first few days to help your gum and jawbone get accustomed to this foreign object in your mouth.

While you will be able to incorporate most of the foods you know and love into your diet over time, it’s important to ease into it. When you first receive a new denture, your mouth detects a foreign object that is exerting pressure on the gums and jawbone that it isn’t used to. 

This can cause a lot of unusual symptoms as you adjust, which usually takes about a month. Because you aren’t used to chewing with dentures yet, and you are likely going to deal with some soreness and tenderness, you should stick to very soft or liquid foods in the first few days. 

On day one, the less chewing a food requires, the better. Some good options are applesauce, pudding, mashed potatoes, meal replacement shakes, soups, oatmeal, Jell-O, pureed vegetables, and yogurt. 

As time progresses, you can start to eat more solid foods, but this should be done slowly and progressively. More solid but still soft foods include bread, pasta, cooked vegetables, soft meats, and beans. Avoid hard and sticky foods and tough meats. 

Nuts, seeds, candy, and peanut butter can dislodge, damage, or cause uneven chewing distribution. You don’t have to completely swear them off forever, but it’s best to limit them as much as possible. You should definitely not eat these foods on the first day of getting dentures.

Partial dentures have a maximum life expectancy of 15 years, and full dentures last, on average, for 7 to 10 years. Many factors affect the lifespan of your dentures, including the type of denture, the materials it’s made from, your lifestyle, diet, and oral hygiene.

The thing with full dentures is that even if the denture itself may last for up to 10 years, patients with extensive tooth loss suffer from bone resorption. Because chewing forces from tooth roots no longer stimulate the jawbone, bone loss worsens over time. 

This can cause changes to your facial structure, requiring replacing your dentures sooner. Arvada dentist Dr. Kim will examine the condition of your dentures during your regular checkups.