Taking your dentures out at night to soak was one of the first instructions we gave you when you got your new dentures. This is important for more than one reason. Sleeping in your dentures is not good for you, your dentures, your mouth, or your gums for a variety of reasons. What so many people have no realization about is that not removing your dentures at night and sleeping in them actually does increase the risk of pneumonia developing.
THE PNEUMONIA – DENTURE CONNECTION
Sleeping with your dentures in combined with poor oral health. This means that there is a heightened risk of contracting pneumonia, especially in the senior adult population. The general overall poor oral hygiene combined with the failure of proper cleaning to help eliminate the harmful bacteria and viruses – this can and often does develop into pneumonia.
While seniors, because of their age, are considered more suspectable to the development of pneumonia – it increases significantly when plaque and bacteria persistently get stuck in and around the gums and it is allowed to just grow. When the dentures are then slept in, those bacteria are breathed in all during the night. Then that bacteria get stuck inside the lungs, it accumulates, and then eventually causes an infection. This is only one very important reason it is so important to have your regular checkups and to maintain the utmost care for your oral and dental hygiene.
While it is never recommended to never sleep with your dentures in, if you forget, be sure to remove them as soon as possible – brush and rinse them appropriately, using a denture cleanser, never a toothpaste and rinse thoroughly with a warm water solution or an ADA approved mouthwash.
If you would like to schedule your regular visit or need help with how to keep your dentures as healthy as possible along with additional oral hygiene hints, please give the office a call. We will be happy to help answer any questions you might have.