Denture Maintenance: Keep Your False Teeth Fit, Fresh, and Functional

When you wear dentures, removable prosthetic teeth used to replace missing natural teeth. Also known as false teeth, they’re not just for looks—they help you eat, speak, and keep your jaw structure intact. But if you treat them like real teeth, you’ll end up with cracked bases, stinky odor, and sore gums. Denture maintenance, the daily routine of cleaning, soaking, and handling false teeth properly isn’t optional. It’s what keeps them working for years, not months.

Think of your dentures like a pair of sneakers. You wouldn’t toss them in the washing machine with your socks, right? Same goes here. Using toothpaste with abrasives? Bad idea. It scratches the surface and traps bacteria. Boiling them to clean them? That’ll warp the plastic. Even leaving them out overnight? That dries them out and changes their shape. Denture cleaning, the process of removing food particles, plaque, and stains without damaging the material needs the right tools: a soft brush, denture-specific cleaner, and a sink lined with a towel (in case you drop them). And don’t forget your gums—oral hygiene for dentures, cleaning the mouth tissues that hold the dentures in place is just as important. Brush your gums, tongue, and roof of your mouth daily. That’s how you stop irritation and infection.

Storage matters too. Soaking dentures in water or a mild cleaning solution overnight keeps them from cracking and helps them stay snug. Never let them sit dry on the counter. And if they feel loose after years of use? That’s not normal wear. Your gums change shape over time, and dentures don’t adjust with them. A quick check-up with your dentist can mean a simple relining instead of a full replacement. It’s cheaper, faster, and way more comfortable.

You’ll find real stories below from people who’ve been there—how they fixed stinky dentures with simple swaps, how one woman saved her set after a drop in the toilet, and why skipping nightly cleaning led to a mouth infection that took weeks to heal. These aren’t theory-heavy guides. These are the tricks that actually work in real life. Whether you’ve worn dentures for a month or twenty years, there’s something here that’ll save you time, money, and discomfort.