Just like your natural teeth, dentures need to be constantly cared for - this means good home care and regular dental visits. You will notice that over a period of time your denture will become progressively looser. This happens because the bones and tissues in your mouth change over time. When a tooth is extracted the bone that once held the tooth in place begins to shrink along with the overlying gum tissue. Dentures require a tight fit against your bone and gum tissue and it is therefore important to adjust the denture base to keep up with this loss of dental structure. Relining your dentures fills up the gap that was created by this loss of bone and gum tissue and will give you a tighter fitting denture for a period of time.

Relining is done by firstly removing a layer of the existing denture surface.

After checking the adjusted periferal margins your existing denture is filled in with an impression material and inserted into your mouth to take an exact impression of the fitting surface of your denture.

This impression is then used to create a new surface or base for the existing denture.

A soft reline can also be done for patients whose gums are too tender for hard relining. Although easier on the gums, this type of reline does not last long and has to be replace often to maintain a proper fit.