How much pressure do dentures exert?
Question
When you wear dentures and you eat food, how much pressure is asserted when you bite? If you get a tiny piece of food in between, it feels like a brick. Why?
Colin, Ruislip
Answer
** Definitive **
Name: Tim, Wimbledon
Qualification: I got a stone caught in my shoe once!
Answer: We can lift approximately twice our body weight with our jaw, which is the most powerful muscle in our body. The reason it hurts so much is this: when you have your teeth, they are cemented into the jaw via the roots. It’s ivory against bone, if you will, so you feel no pain. With dentures, the gums heal over and the gums have nerves in. Mostly, the large surface area touching the dentures means you don’t feel it, but getting a pip between them is a bit like getting a stone in your shoe.
** Double definitive **
Name: Ellen, Liverpool
Qualification: Studying dentistry
Answer: Dentures hurt because they rub against the soft tissues underneath. A pip under the dentures will rub and inflame the gum, causing irritation and pain.