Denture Relines

Relines help create that fit you first felt when your dentures were new.  We take an impressions inside your denture, recontouring your denture to the current positioning of your tissues and ridge.

We advise our patients to have their denture or partial checked out every year and a half to two years. Come see us before then especially if new problems arise.

Relines are necessary when your denture or partial is mobile or wobbly or you are using an abnormal amount of adhesive (1/2 of a tube of goo). The reline will fill in all the little nooks and crannies that have shrunken over time.  Shrinkage is normal, to a point.  If your denture is excessively rattling around in your mouth, shrinkage could be speeding up.  Abnormal trauma to the ridges in your mouth could break down the dense bone, changing it into flabby tissue. Relines, however, are a normal process for dentures and partials.

Hard Denture Reline

A hard reline uses acrylic very similar to the acrylic used to fabricate your denture. You may see a slight color difference, especially if the old acrylic is discolored, but the fit will feel comparable.  Hard relines are beneficial over soft in their strength, durability and are less porous.

Soft Denture Reline

A soft liner is a layer of soft, pliable material that is fitted between the surface of a denture and your oral tissues. It absorbs shock between the hard base of your denture and your gums. Soft liners can be used when creating new dentures or retrofitted into existing dentures.

Permanent soft liners provide comfort and relief for individuals with receded and flattened gum tissues that don’t respond well to the stress of dentures. They may also be a suitable solution for patients with chronically sore gum tissues or gums with sharp bony areas.

Soft liners require regular follow-up visits with Jeff to examine the fit of dentures and general oral health.

This material does not have the extended life of the hard acrylic and since it is porous, needs to be kept very clean.  A soft liner can be wonderful for a person who has chronic sore spots or very little ridge. However, adding a soft liner may increase the thickness giving it a bulky feel. Due to the thinner acrylic layer, they will fracture more easily. Also… Warning: If you have a problem with candidiasis (thrush), the soft liner can harbor these microorganisms. Patients experiencing these problems may also consider a more permanent solution of implant retained dentures.

Temporary Relines

If dentures have not been serviced in quite some time, a patient’s gums may be red, swollen, or misshapen. This creates problems in taking impressions for a new hard or soft reline and may lead to a denture that would perpetuate the problem.

A temporary, or palliative reline material may be recommended to allow the inflammation to subside. This reline makes the denture fit much more tightly, and is usually soft and pliable. After a few weeks, the gums return to a more normal state. The patient is then ready for his new denture or hard reline.