Denture Repairs During COVID-19
If your denture does not fit properly, it may move around in the mouth. The lack of stability for your denture can cause stress and pressure points, which can cause your denture to crack or break. Another common cause of broken dentures is accidental or incidental breakage.
From time to time, complete and partial dentures require maintenance and adjustments keep them fitting properly, comfortable and functional. Dentures can experience breakage due to many factors. A denture can have a broken tooth or several teeth, a fracture to the denture acrylic base, and dentures can break in half.
Covid-19 is a highly infectious disease, and denture wearers are finding it challenging to feel supported during this time when all denture clinics and dentist offices are closed.
Patients Trust and Rely on their Denturist
Denturists are governed under the Health Professions Act and regulated by the College of Denturists of BC. Denturists have been given a strict directive to suspend non-essential services.
Brookswood Denture Clinic has established a Covid-19 denture repair protocol to ensure the health and safety of patients and the denturists. An essential denture repair service is one that the denture can be repaired as long as there is no physical contact with the patient. Dentures that are broken and require an impression can not be serviced at this time.
By telephone, the denture clinic will do a health status screening. You will be asked specific questions regarding your travel history, current health status, your weekly activities and if you are maintaining isolation at home.
If we feel the denture is repairable, Brookswood Denture Clinic will arrange a time that the denturist will proceed with the repair. You will be asked to soak your denture in a diluted bleach solution or Denture Brite, and thoroughly clean the denture with soap and water before placing it into a plastic zip-lock bag. You will then deliver the broken denture to the denture clinic to leave in a container outside the door to be collected by the denturist. You will not see the denturist for this appointment.
Disinfection Protocol
With personal protective equipment, the Denturist will collect the broken denture in the zip lock bag from the container. The Denturist will take the broken denture to the laboratory to be disinfected and examined to determine that it can be repaired. When the denture repair is completed the denture will be disinfected again and placed into a sealed bag and returned to the container outside the door of the Brookswood Denture Clinic. No adjustments or alterations can be provided to the denture after the denture repair is complete.
Spare Denture
People generally don’t plan for a day that their denture breaks or is misplaced or lost. Numerous dentures are lost while in the hospital for treatment or chewed by their family pet. The Covid-19 pandemic has given us all time to think about our basic dietary needs. For denture wearers, dentures are a basic need and can adversely impact their health if the denture is unusable or fits poorly. If dentures don’t fit properly, break or are misplaced or lost, a person’s health is at risk. It is recommended that all denture wearers have a backup denture. It is also advisable to never throw out your old denture. You never know when you might need it.
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For more information about complete or partial dentures or how to care for your dentures, please call 604-530-9936 or visit www.yourdenture.com to set up an appointment for a complimentary consultation.
Darren Sailer and Colin Harty, Denturists, are BPS trained and Certified SEMCD clinicians. ~ Live your best life, let us perfect your smile.
Brookswood Denture Clinic – Denture and Implant Solutions