Can These Dentures Be Salvaged?

Posted by writeradmin

I have complete dentures made and I am happy with how they look and feel. I seem to have an allergy to them though. When I started wearing them, the allergy symptoms began pretty much right away. The first day I had swollen glands and swelling/irritation of the eyes. By the second day, I felt sick. On the third day my throat stated swelling and I had a bit of difficulty breathing. I took some benadryl and that helped a little. I waited a bit and then tried again with the same results only it got worse more quickly than before. I really like these dentures so wasn’t quite ready to give up on them. Unfortunately, when I tried the third time, the symptoms came on even more quickly and it scared me. Is there any way to salvage these dentures? I was quite pleased wtih them and worry the next set won’t be as great.

Penny

Dear Penny,

You definitely have an allergy to these dentures. I’m glad the Benadryl worked for you. These type of allergies should not be messed around with. They can turn life-threatening quite quickly. I would stop wearing the dentures completely until you find out what the offending material is. You can find this out by seeing an allergist. There is still a chance these can be salvaged. My guess is that you are allergic to the unreacted monomer in the dentures. If your denture is made of acrylic, like most are, the acrylic starts in liquid form. The dentist will cause a chemical reaction, which turns the monomer into a polymer as it hardens.

In this chemical reaction, there is some leftover monomer. If this is what you are allergic to than there is a procedure that can help to turn the leftower monomer into a polymer. If your dentist is unfamiliar with that, than you can show him or her this documentation which will help them. Basically, what this boils down to is submerging the denture extremely hot water for several hours.

If that doesn’t work, you may have to have the denture remade, but this time with a different material. Acrylic is not the only thing you can make a denture with. Your first step is seeing that allergist though.

This blog is brought to you by Moline Dentist Dr. Thomas Goebel.