A broken denture or plate
Rarely painful, always disruptive, and the one where the home repair does more harm than the break did.
What this covers
- A crack across the base
- Usually after a drop onto a hard surface. A denture that is cracked but still in one piece will flex, and flexing is what turns a crack into two halves.
- A denture in two pieces
- The version that ends the day. Both pieces matter and both should come in, however small the second one is.
- A tooth off the plate
- Often the front one, often at the worst moment. Keep it. It is usually the same tooth that goes back on.
- A bent or snapped clasp
- On a partial denture, the clasp does the holding. A denture that has started to move around is also starting to rub.
- A sore spot underneath
- A denture that has begun to rub is a different problem from a broken one, and an ulcer under a plate does not settle while the plate keeps sitting on it.
What happens, in order
- 01
Stop wearing it
A cracked or ill-fitting denture rubs, and a rubbed spot takes longer to settle than the repair takes to do.
- 02
Collect every piece
Including the small ones. A repair with all the fragments is a different job from a repair without them.
- 03
Store it in water, not dry
Acrylic distorts as it dries out, and a distorted denture will not fit even after it is mended.
- 04
Call before you improvise
Ring (765) 330-8726 first. This is the category where the thing people do while waiting is the thing that causes the permanent damage.
Why the home repair kit is the real problem
Superglue and hardware adhesives are not designed for the mouth and they are not designed for acrylic. What they do reliably is set the two halves a fraction out of alignment, and then resist removal. A denture that arrives cracked can very often be repaired. A denture that arrives glued frequently cannot, and has to be remade instead.
Why a denture breaks in the first place
Sometimes it is simply the drop. More often, a denture that has been fine for years starts breaking because the ridge underneath it has changed shape, so the plate is now rocking on a high point every time you bite. That is why a repeat break is worth reporting as a repeat rather than as an accident. The crack is the symptom.
The gap in the meantime
Going without a front denture for a few days is genuinely miserable and people do all sorts of things to avoid it. It is still the better option than wearing something cracked, because the tissue underneath heals slowly and a sore ridge delays the fitting afterwards.
Worth knowing
No superglue, no epoxy, no repair kits
This is the single most consequential line on the page.
Never keep a denture dry
Water or a denture solution. A dry shelf changes the fit permanently.
Do not file down a rubbing edge
It removes material that cannot be put back, and the sore spot is usually caused somewhere other than where it hurts.
A broken denture or plate, asked and answered
Can it be repaired the same day?
Sometimes, depending on the break and on what the practice can do in house. That is a question for the call.
It has broken in the same place twice.
Say that on the phone. A repeat break in one spot usually means the fit has changed, and repairing it again without addressing that gets you a third break.
Can I wear it if I am careful?
A cracked denture flexes every time you bite, and the tissue underneath pays for it. Better to be without it for a few days.
People reading this also needed
A filling or crown that came out
Usually undramatic, usually painless for a day or two, and one of the quickest problems on this list to get expensive.
A chipped or broken tooth
Most of these do not hurt on the day, which is exactly why so many of them get left.
A toothache that will not settle
The single most common reason anybody dials an emergency dentist, and the one where waiting costs the most.
Nothing on this page can look at your tooth.
This is general information about a broken denture or plate. Whether it is what you have, and whether it can be handled here, are both questions for the call.