Flying False Teeth: How Sneezing Can Affect Your Dentures

Do you have a particular style of sneezing? Perhaps your sneezes are gentle things, almost to the point of seeming cute to anyone who witnesses them. Perhaps your sneezes are a sharp intake of breath, followed by a noise so loud that anyone in the vicinity might think that the apocalypse has begun. Sneezes are a fact of life, although some people are more prone to them than others. Your sneezes might be most prominent with the changing of the seasons, as a reaction to the pollen spike that comes with spring. It might be that there's a more specific trigger, such as sneezing due to proximity with a certain allergen, like a dog or a cat. While sneezes are a fact of life and are not exactly a major concern, they can have unexpected results for someone who wears dentures.

The Force of a Sneeze

A sneeze is a forceful, involuntary expulsion of air from your lungs via your nose and mouth, generally due to an irritant in your nasal mucosa. The sheer force of the air can pose problems to anyone who wears dentures. Your dentures remain in place due to a peripheral seal, which is also known as a border seal. This means that the edges (or peripheries/borders) of your dentures forms a seal against the tissues directly beneath and around them, holding them in place. This seal is only truly effective when your dentures are a good fit, perfectly contoured for your gums. But how does sneezing affect dentures?

Breaking the Seal

A sneeze has the potential to break this peripheral seal, loosening your dentures or even totally dislodging them. A particularly violent sneeze could even cause your dentures to fall out. This is not only embarrassing, but it could result in substantial damage to your dentures if they were to fall to the floor. You'd hate to have to undergo denture repairs just because of a simple sneeze!

Covering Up

It might be unthinkable for you to ever sneeze without covering your mouth. Then again, you might not bother when you happen to sneeze when you're alone. As someone who wears dentures, you must always cover your mouth when you sneeze. This not only creates a physical barrier that will prevent your dentures from fully dislodging, but it also allows you to discreetly push your dentures back into the correct position if they loosen.

The Strength of the Seal

You could eventually begin to notice that your sneezes are having more of an effect on your dentures than they used to. A sneeze that, once upon a time, wouldn't have caused any problems, might now threaten to dislodge your dentures. This could be because the peripheral seal isn't as robust as it once was. Relining is a standard type of denture repairs, and this involves your dentures being resized in response to the slowly changing shape of your gums with an additional layer of acrylic resin being added to the base plate, ensuring that the peripheral seal is as effective as it can be.

Dentures aren't meant to be airborne, and it's helpful to be aware of just how sneezes can affect your dentures.