A Wealth of Health: Let’s Talk About Dentures

By Mark McNease/Editor

As a new feature at LGBTSr, a ‘Wealth of Health’ will offer personal and professional experiences on a range of health issues, complete with resources and links. Have one you’d like to hear about? Email me at: editor @ lgbtsr.org

I think it’s important to talk openly and candidly about our aging selves: our bodies, our sex lives, our relationships, our illnesses, our health and our wealth. Teeth are part of that, and, as most of us know, a part not so easily covered by insurance. So let’s start this ‘Wealth of Health’ feature with a word about dentures, something near and dear to me.

A few years ago I had a choice: either get a permanent bridge for my front teeth that were teetering on the edge of extraction, or get a partial denture. At the time I was determined not to have teeth that sat in a jar at night, like my late mother’s, and I had the money to get the bridge.

Teeth are very expensive, as anyone who pays for them knows. I had permanent bridges for both my lower and upper front teeth. The lower one is anchored on the canines, a smart thing to do if you want it to last a long time. The upper bridge, however, was anchored to three loose teeth destined to wiggle their out of my mouth.

So there I was, five years later, faced with the same choice: do I spend another $8,000 to replace a bridge that was supposed to last a decade or more? Or, having fewer financial means this time and being old enough not to really care about having removable teeth, take the partial option and save $6,000? I took the savings.

I’ve had this removable plate, aka denture, for about six months now. It doesn’t bother me. I sleep with it in, despite having read online that you shouldn’t. The dentist who had it made told me I could (I asked him several times), and, frankly, I don’t mind the minimal risk, especially since it’s not a full set. I like keeping my teeth in except when I clean them.

Once my tongue got used to interacting with the roof of my mouth in a slightly different way, I sound just the same. Only other denture wearers might detect a slightly different sibilant ‘s’, but most people don’t know the difference—and, as you can tell from my writing about this, I don’t consider dentures something to be ashamed of anyway. Remember, we embrace age and celebrate life here.

I have some issues with the plate becoming loose during the day, and I often have to apply Poligrip twice. Partial dentures tend to have this problem more than full dentures, and it’s not something to be alarmed about. I use Poligrip, by the way, because it does not have zinc in it, a substance I don’t want to put into my body every day.

Other than that, my partial denture is, like my tattoos, part of my body image I don’t think much about anymore.

Here are some articles of interest for those of us with dentures, and those who find themselves faced with the choice of getting them.

Know Your Teeth: What is a Denture?
InfoBites

Facts on Dentures
MedicalNet

5 Thing You Should Know About Dentures
RDHMagazine

Tips On Living with Dentures
DentureProfessionals

How to Stop Hating Dentures
Dental Economics

Cheer Up New Denture Wearers
Topix (online conversation)

Mark McNease is the author of eight novels, two short story collections and miscellaneous fiction. He’s the co-editor of the anthology Outer Voices Inner Lives (Lambda Literary Award finalist), the publisher and editor of LGBTSr.org, as well as the co-creator of the Emmy and Telly winning children’s program Into the Outdoors.