How to Identify Dentures

With today's advances in medical technology and specifically, dental implants and dentures, it can be difficult to tell if someone is wearing dentures 1. Each pair of dentures is personalized for the person wearing them 1. Before someone receives his permanent set of dentures, dentists make extensive molds of his mouth and gums, allowing the false teeth to look and feel real 1. There are a few ways, however, to identify dentures in someone's mouth 1.

Look closely at the person's teeth. If the person appears to have cleaner, whiter teeth with less decay or discoloration than before, then it is possible that he has dentures 1.

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Focus on the lengths of the top row of teeth. If the teeth are all the same length, creating a perfect line at the bottom, then they may be false teeth. Natural teeth are not all the same length, and these slight differences in size make for an imperfect line on the top row of the teeth.

Listen for a slight lisp. Someone that is new to wearing dentures may have trouble pronouncing certain words, especially "s" sounds, as he gets used to his new teeth 1. However, this usually goes away with time and practice and so, if someone has been wearing dentures for several years, it may be difficult to tell just by listening to his speech patterns 1.

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Watch the way the person eats. When a person does not have false teeth, he can tear the food away from the source because the teeth are firmly and deeply rooted in the mouth. If a person has false teeth, the teeth are not as secure in the mouth and thus, he cannot tear food (such as a fruit) away with his teeth. Instead, he will wait until the food is all the way in his mouth before pulling away.

Watch what the person eats. A person with dentures usually steers clear of sticky or hard-to-chew foods such as taffy, caramel or tough meats 1. This is due to the fact that the dentures do not always stay in place when eating these types of foods 1.