People that haven’t had any personal experience with dentures, but may have seen “false teeth” on relatives or friends often make a common mistake. They believe that the creation of dentures is a “one-time” event, since these are artificial teeth and, once properly fitted, should be used forever, with no need to revisit the dentures again unless an accident with damage occurs.

A Good Fit Doesn’t Always Stay That Way

While it’s true that a person might require denture repair in Long Island for some kind of unfortunate accident, there’s a far more regular occurrence that requires attention years later. It’s called a “relining,” though, in some ways, the term “refitting” may be more appropriate.

Dentures are always a custom job. When they’re required, a visit to dentist and dental lab will result in exacting measurements made of the mouth. Those measurements are used by the lab to ensure a good, comfortable fit, and will provide years of usage once the dentures are fabricated.

However, dentures sit on the gums, which, while covering bone, are still soft and prone to change over time. If the shape of the gums changes over the years, this can cause irritation, discomfort and even pain after some time. At that point, the denture repair in Long Island known as relining may be required to make sure the dentures comfortably fit once more.

“Soft relining” is denture repair that can be conducted right in the chair, by a dental expert. It uses a liquid polymer to help fill in any spaces that may have formed, and it may require some occasional readjustment. “Hard relining” actually changes the shape of the denture, and while it may be done with your dental expert, it’s often recommended to do this kind of denture repair in Long Island by sending the dentures back out to the lab for proper, more permanent relining.