Hard, Soft, And Temporary Denture Relines

When molding new dentures, your dentist will usually ensure that the appliances fit perfectly to your gums. Well-fitted dentures will retain suction excellently and are less likely to come off or get unstable as you chew or speak. Unfortunately, gums tend to change underneath your dentures, meaning that at some point, the false teeth will not conform to the shape of the gums, leading to discomfort and reduced suction.

To solve this problem, dentists usually opt for a denture reline, where the pink acrylic base of the denture is remolded to conform to your new gums and oral features. There are 3 types of relines that can be done depending on your oral needs.

Hard reline

A hard reline involves the removal of the plastic inside the pink acrylic base on your dentures and then reshaping the material to conform to the contours of your mouth. This is achieved by using a soft material to make a mold of your new gum shape, and then using this mold to make a new pink acrylic base for your dentures that accurately reflects the new shape of your gums.

The newly molded acrylic is then used to reshape the old base of your dentures, allowing for better contact with the gums and therefore improved suction and stability. Every denture wearer should make a dental appointment for a hard reline every two years or so, to ensure their dentures fit well.

Soft reline

This type of reline involves replacing the hard acrylic material on ordinary dentures with a pliable material with a softer consistency that can range from waxy to hard rubber. This is done when a patient is unable to wear ordinary dentures due to tender gums. Such patients usually develop painful sore spots on their gums when wearing dentures with hard acrylic material, and therefore require a specially lined denture that will not hurt their gums.

In most cases, sore gums result from a denture wearer using ordinary dentures that do not fit properly, which forces them to apply pressure on them to keep them stable. With time, these poorly-fitting dentures will start hurting the gums, forcing the patient to get a soft reline.

Temporary reline

If dentures are not serviced for a long time, they can seriously hurt the gums, leading to inflammation. By the time a patient with poorly-fitting dentures finally visits a dentist, their gums are usually in such bad shape that no accurate acrylic mold can be built out of them in their distorted state.

Dentists therefore resort to a temporary, therapeutic relining material that is worn for a few months, allowing the gums to heal, before a hard reline can eventually be attempted.

To learn more, contact a dentist like the ones at Larsen-Haslem Dental for a dentist appointment.