Are Your Dentures Rubbing Your Gums? This Is What You May Need To Do

There are so many astute one-liners to colorfully describe situations in parenthood …

“Having one child makes you a parent; having two makes you a referee.”

—David Frost

“A two-year old is kind of like having a blender, but you don’t have a top for it.”

—Jerry Seinfeld

“Be nice to your children, for they will choose your rest home.”

—Phyllis Diller

Those quotes could go on for days, people. Seriously. Having children changes your life forever. 

Every child comes with their own set of … umm… special challenges. You adapt and adjust as needed with each kid as their personality and temperament requires. 

During the first year, you’re just hoping that you can string enough hours of sleep together to form coherent sentences. You get used to smelling like spit up.

When you have multiple kids, you want to get through the day with a few uninterrupted sentences falling off your lips. Or maybe sitting down for one hot meal and actually eating it while it is hot.

You spend your time feeling guilty for weird things that years before you had no idea were even possible to feel guilty about! Your thoughts no longer feel like your own. 

And cleaning the house? Well, that is a total joke. It has often been said that cleaning your house when you have toddlers is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos. That might just be a scientific fact. 

Try as we might, we just can’t keep up with every single mess that little people make. They are busy little bees that only slow down when their eyes are closed. 

There are certain things we try over and over again to remedy a situation … but they never quite get the job done. How frustrating is that?!

We may not try the same things over and over. That would be the actions of someone lacking sanity, right? So, we may actually use different tactics to get the job done. 

And you know what? There are times those crazy tactics actually work. 

Sometimes, we use this same approach with our own health, don’t we? We take matters into our own hands and try different things to solve our issues.

We especially try this for things that we know aren’t life threatening. With the exception of hypochondriacs, most of us have no desire to make regular trips to the doctor or the dentist. 

If you have dentures, you have more than likely experienced gum discomfort. First, you had all of your teeth pulled and survived that unpleasantness. Then, your gums started to bother you. 

What Can You Do to Remedy Denture Sores?

Your mouth may not even feel like it’s your own. It probably feels like a cruel joke has overtaken what used to be the place where you indulged in blueberry cobbler, delighted in German chocolate cake, and happily munched on gooey homemade caramel corn.

Now, you’ve made friends with lukewarm soup, yogurt, and bendy straws. 

You, dear reader, are suffering from sore gums no thanks to your dentures. Not fun, not fun at all.

Sadly, you have probably been told that this gum pain and discomfort is normal. So, you have just been sucking it up and dealing with it. 

What has happened to make your gums sore? Your dentures are rubbing against your gums. They are irritated and swollen. Some places you may have developed denture sores.

Reasons Why Dentures Cause Gum Pain

Bacteria Buildup: Just like bacteria eats away at our natural teeth and can cause tooth decay, bacteria that remains on dentures often results in yeast building up underneath those dentures. That yeast gives you Denture Sore Mouth.

Dentures That Don’t Fit: Your mouth can change shape as it is healing from having all your teeth pulled. While it’s healing, your dentures will not fit well. They will rub your gums until they are raw. This can lead to infection.

Resorption of Bone Cells: Dentures that regularly rub against the gums is a genuine indicator that they don’t fit. When you wear poorly fitted dentures for a prolonged length of time, your bone cells will be reabsorbed and the bone will atrophy. 

Cracks or Chips: When dentures become cracked or chipped, they keep them from functioning appropriately. This leads to various problems that can cause gums to become sore. 

Remedies for Gum Pain Due to Dentures

Salt Water Rinse: Make a saltwater solution with about a teaspoon of salt dissolved in a glass of warm water and rinse your mouth with it 

Extra Denture Adhesive: Be sure to use a bit more denture adhesive to keep your dentures in place and to add an extra layer of protection from the rubbing.

Oral Pain Relief Gel: Just like we do for teething babies, you can try rubbing toothache pain relief gel on your sore gums. 

Over-the-Counter Pain Relievers: Try taking acetaminophen, ibuprofen, or naproxen sodium to relieve the pain.

Aloe Vera Gel: Rub aloe vera gel on your gums to help the irritation. (Sounds tasty, huh?)

Gum Massage: Yep. Rub your gums to help reduce swelling through blood circulation. (That’ll be fun.)

Don’t Wear Dentures to Bed: This should be a given. Do not sleep in your dentures. Your gums need time to rest and recover.

Use a Soft Toothbrush: Gently brush your sore gums with a soft-bristled toothbrush and be sure to keep your dentures completely free of any bacteria.

Cloves and Olive Oil: Soaking cloves in olive oil and rubbing the mixture on your sore areas should relieve pain and help with healing.

Sage Tea: Make a sage tea and swish this in your mouth for about thirty seconds. You should experience immediate relief.

These are just a handful of the tips for alleviating gum pain from your dentures. The truth is that gum pain will probably be an ongoing issue for someone who wears dentures.

Yes, the pain may ebb and flow. However, your dentures will probably not stay securely fitted to your mouth for the rest of your life. They will need to be repeatedly refitted to your gums. And every time your dentures need to be refitted, it’s probably preceded by gum discomfort and irritation. 

Our suggestion to stop your dentures from rubbing your gums? 

Get rid of your dentures and make the switch to Nuvia Dental Implants. Our implants will not cause gum irritation. You won’t have to rub clove oil or an oral analgesic on gums for the rest of your life. 
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When your gums are irritated by your dentures, it’s not time for new dentures, it’s time to check out Nuvia's full mouth dental implants. Please reach out to us so we can help you end this crazy cycle of gum irritation. 

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So What?

We want you to chew your food without pain. We want you to speak without worrying that your ill-fitting dentures are going to slip around and make you lisp. And there is nothing we would love more than seeing you smile without pain.

Spending your spare time looking for new remedies to ease your gum pain is no way to live. Let us help you have a happy mouth again!