Eating with Flipper Dentures: Tips & Considerations

Flipper dentures are temporary acrylic dentures, usually intended to fill a gap between teeth until more permanent dentures can be fitted. Some people, however, have taken to wearing flipper dentures for years at a time, especially if they cannot afford to have the more permanent dentures fitted. Eating with flipper dentures can be a problem, as they're much weaker than both natural teeth and other types of dentures.

Instructions

• 1

  Remove the flipper denture, if at all possible, before eating. This helps reduce the risk of it breaking due to the pressures of chewing, and eliminates the need to do anything else to care for the denture.

• 2

  Select foods that are relatively soft, and cut your food into very small pieces, until you have a good idea of what the flipper denture can handle.

• 3

  Chew carefully, with as little pressure as possible, if you must eat with the flipper denture in place. Take care to distribute the pressure of chewing as evenly across your entire mouth as possible. Never chew with just one tooth or with just one side of your mouth.

• 4

  Clean the denture and your mouth -- including your natural teeth and gums -- before reinserting it after removing it. If you were able to eat with the denture in, remove it now so that you can thoroughly clean both the denture and the area beneath it. Then reseat it.