If you've recently lost a lot of weight, then you may need more than a new wardrobe of clothes to fit your new streamlined look. If you wear dentures, then you may start to notice that your teeth don't fit as well as they used to and you're finding it harder to keep them in place in your mouth. Is this normal? What can you do about it?

How Weight Loss Affects Dentures

While you know that losing weight makes you smaller generally, you may not realise that this can affect your facial structure and gums as well as other parts of your body. Weight loss makes your clothes too big and perhaps even makes your feet smaller; it may also change the size of your gums, especially if you've lost a significant amount of weight.

A major loss of weight can make your dentures feel like your old trousers. They used to fit but now they flap about and won't stay in place without some help. So, what can you do if your dentures suddenly feel too big for your mouth?

Try Denture Adhesives

If your dentures are now just a little bit looser than they were, then you may be able to improve their fit by using denture adhesives. Sometimes, all you need is a bit of extra help to get your fit back. This is, however, a temporary fix, and you may not want to have to use adhesives all the time to keep your dentures where they should be. If this is the case, then you can look for a more permanent solution.

Have Your Dentures Relined

Dentists are used to dealing with dentures that have lost some fit. Typically, this is due to bone and gum changes that happen as people age or to dentures wearing down over time; dealing with the way weight loss can affect the fit of false teeth works in much the same way.

For example, you may be able to get your denture fit back by asking your dentist to reline them. This involves putting a layer of material on to your teeth's plates to bulk them up a little. In many cases, a reline will be enough to make your dentures fit better.

Be aware that even a reline may not be enough to make dentures fit perfectly again. If your dentist feels that your weight loss has affected your fit too badly to manage with a reline, then you may be advised to consider having new dentures made.

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