Are Your Dentures Toxic To You?
The National Institute of Dentistry and Craniofacial Research lists a whole lot of reasons for BMS, but they conveniently exclude the possibility of poisoning from the chemicals in the plate itself.
They say that the cause can be anything “….from nutritional deficiencies to menopause to dry mouth and allergies”, and that the connection is unclear. But they do not include the obvious reason – the denture itself.
But denture toxins SHOULD be listed on their list of possibilities. Because the chemicals in a denture of plastic or acrylic fibre are highly toxic things which can damage your health.
Modern dentures are extremely suspect, because they are made of soft, porous plastic which is hydroscopic, so not only are you at risk of poisoning from the toxic components within the fibre of the denture, which leach into the body as it breaks down, but of carrying around a store-house of additional chemicals which have been absorbed into the denture.
Merrilyn’s new book has more on the subject of dentures and other health issues:
Sensitive people will be able to make the connection for themselves> I have proven myself that it is the chemicals within the modern porous denture which have been to blame for many health problems I have suffered over the years.
True, I was seriously ill many years ago, after being sprayed by helicopter for several hours with 245T. This was a ‘oncer’ which had disastrous effects on my health and that of my wee toddler, and also on my unborn baby. The MAF spraying of Auckland for apple moth was another example of being poisoned due to spraying programmes. But people do not usually question the safety of the modern denture, and consider the possiblity that you could be poisoning yourself on a daily basis by wearing them. Wearing dentures over many years has given me an insight into just how toxic these things really are.
The National Institute of Dentistry’s attitude towards BMS, with what I consider to be a feigned ignorance on the issue, – ‘we don’t really know what causes it – the connection is unclear’ – is rather like the medical profession turning a blind eye to the damage of vaccinations, or to the negative effects of Warfarin, or Fosamax. They promote them as being totally safe, whereas in fact, they KNOW there is a risk with these drugs. Where there is a vested interest, ignorance often prevails, and the truth is conveniently disguised. And I am sure the same wool is used to cloud our eyes as to the real truth about modern dentures.
For a start, highly toxic glues are used to stick the teeth into place. So, even if you have the very best of materials in a denture, you still have the glue, which tastes like apoxy resin, and this glue will eventually start to break down and enter your system. Apoxy resin is a known carcenogen.
The soft kind of plastics which most dental technicians like to use for convenience, because they can heat the stuff up and remould it time and time again, are porous and absorb all kinds of things, including caffeine, food preservatives, and chemicals in the environment such as pesticides. You end up with a cocktail of poisons which is incredibly potent. And at the same time your dentures are absorbing more chemicals, the soft plastic is beginning to break down, accelerated by the saliva in the mouth, food substances, hot food and drinks, etc. You end up with a combination of toxic chemicals in the dental plate being leached into your body.
The process of leaching works pretty much in the same way as a mercury filling continually emmits a small amount of poisonous compounds into the body. It may be a small amount of poison, but it affects the body adversely, nevertheless.
The softer the plastic, the less stable it is, and the more quickly will it break down. That is a fact. So it stands to reason that the tough, concrete-like plastics which were formerly used, such as my father still wears from the 2nd world war, are going to be less problematic as far as poisoning from a denture goes.
I have had two very good communications from readers on the subject of dentures and their toxicity – You can read these comments for yourself under my post entitled ‘Toxic Dentures’.
One person commenting on my blog has experienced the very same problem, or one of them, which I experienced after just less than a year of wearing a brand new denture – BMS, or Burning Mouth Syndrome. Eventually, I had to discard the dentures completely, as they were so toxic to me, even after only one year. Now I go about without dentures at all, rather than have the toxic materials in dentures sitting in my mouth and poisoning my whole body, as well as giving me the BMS. Tingling and numbness in the arms and hands, dizziness, blurred vision, loss of memory, speech affected, nerve twitches, burning mouth, and depression all returned when I tried using the teeth again. But these symptoms all disappear like magic once the teeth are removed.
It is not my health that is to blame, as the ‘experts’ would claim, but my sensitivity to extremely hazardous chemicals which make up those dentures. But I would not have it otherwise, as being sensitive to poisons can be a great safeguard against getting cancer and other degenerative disease, if you only listen to what your body tells you. I have often been warned about chemical hazards which I have been able to avoid, because of my chemical sensitivity. However, I must say that vanity has gotten the better of me with the denture problem, and I have possibly only listened too late. I should have stopped wearing dentures years ago, when I first noticed their deleterious effect. I believe I may still be prone to getting cancer because of my immune system suffering through the wearing of toxic dental plastic.
I have found the same problem with dentures over the past 35 years of wearing dentures – They only have a limited life span for me, which is usually about 2 or 3 years, experience tells me. Then the poisoning symptoms start. My dental technician was angry with me because I was adamant that it was the poisons in the teeth which were causing my health problems , including the burning mouth – He claimed that it was because of germs in the denture. Bacteria. – Of course, this is likely as well, but once the germs get there, and begin to feed on the cocktail of absorbed poisons, and the plastic is leaching poisons, you cannot do much about it. No amount of denture cleaners will have any good effect. Denture cleaners are toxic in themselves, and these denture cleaning chemicals are absorbed into the plate which always makes the reactions worse for me, especially the BMS.
I found that the denture cleaner my dentist assured me would fix the problem, because it would kill the bacteria, he said, actually made the poison problem worse. My mouth was raw to bleeding. The chemical stuff from the denture cleaner, intended for the germs, got absorbed into the denture plastic, and it was several weeks before the taste of the cleaner dissipated from the teeth, even after I had ceased to use it.
I thought I would be right for the next 2 or 3 years after paying $3000 to the dental technician. But he mucked up the first setting so badly, I had to go back for a remoulding. He was angry because I had my own ideas about the toxins in dentures, and so, disliking his authority on the subject being challenged, especially by a mere woman in his eyes, consequently made a really rough job of the dentures, as well as being quite abusive to me. “There you go – you’ve got teeth now”, he said carelessly, as he pushed his awful handiwork into my mouth. His work was so incredibly shoddy – He had made the plate up minus several of the teeth which I had had before, and he did not fit the dentures so that there was a correspondence between the two plates, upper and lower. So there was no bite. They simply did not function, and looked really terrible as well. A bit like an old rabbit.
I couldn’t work out why his attitude had changed – The first time I had seen this dentist, aroung 7 years ago now, he was marvellous, gave me great service, as well as a great set of porcelain teeth set in the least toxic of the substances which he had available. All I can think of is that he, too, is suffering toxic reaction from working with the highly toxic denture materials, and that his nerves are shot, and he is suffering depression.
Michele writes in a comment on my ‘Toxic Dentures’ post, about a dental technician who had to give up her practice because of denture toxins affecting her health. This dentist now helps people with sensitivities to dentures by boiling them for around 24 hours, according to Michele’s comment. This technique is supposed to negate many of the mobile poisons.
Because his treatment was so rough, I wonder if my dental technician really did use all the expensive products which he said he did. I am not a dental technician, and so how would I know what products he actually used in the second, faulty, lot of teeth he made for me? Judging from the treatment he gave me, I doubt he used the supposed non-allergenic materials. My trust with this man is totally expired now.
The procedure he took to correct the teeth by heating the teeth so that he could remould them and add the missing teeth, ruined the life of the teeth for me. Instead of getting about two or three years of wearing a non-hazardous denture, the denture’s life was shortened to only a year because of the heat the technician applied. And possibly because of sub-standard materials. In effect, it was this dentist’s shoddy work which resulted in the denture being ruined for me, as far as its safe life span went. But of course, he would deny this to the bitter end. So I haven’t been back to see these dental technicians again, although the plates were insured for several years beyond when I ceased to wear them. I have subsequently accepted the loss of $3000 as a warning to avoid dentures and the likes of this man.
Heat is the worst thing for beginning the break-down of your denture. Heat is the worst thing for all plastics, as heat causes break-down of plastic. One example to prove my point is the warning that milk for babies should not be heated in a plastic bottle in a microwave, as the chemicals in the plastic leach into the baby’s milk. Of course, microwaves are pretty intense things, but wearing a denture in your warm mouth for a few years will have a similar effect. The chemicals in a porous denture made of a soft plastic or acrylic will start to leach into your body, making you sick. The plastic or acrylics will begin to break down in an environment of warmth and enzymes from foods, saliva enzymes, and substances such as coffee, Vitamin C, fruit, garlic, and many things which are otherwise good for your health.
Interestingly, Hulda Clark recommends putting dentures in hot water for hardening them. I don’t have dentures myself but I thought this might be helpful:
Look up drclarknetwork/recipes/dental-bleach-lugols-iodine/
Hardening dentures:
Various kinds of dentures, including colored, can be hardened using this recipe. This means that they will not seep acrylic acid, urethane, bisphenol-A, phthalates, metals, or dyes, to a detectable level. The hardening was tested with a Syncrometer by soaking dentures of various kinds and colors in water for many hours and sampling soak-water. If you will not be able to test, repeat this 3 times:
Heat up water in a saucepan till it just begins to steam, Turn of the heat. Place dentures in water. Cover. Let stand 1/2 hour. Remove and rinse. Repeat with fresh water.
Your mouth should have no reaction, no redness, no burning, and no odd symptoms from wearing for dentures. If symptoms from wearing occur, repeat the hardening recipe. Also repeat after every visit to the dentist even for the most minor adjustments.
Thankyou Jenifer. Worth a try, most certainly.
Thank you for your column. I have been dealing with chemical burns in my mouth since having a 4-hour “chairside reline” some years ago. Dentures are not processed with a chairside reline so the chemicals are raw and potent. I have visited top oral dentists, dentists and prothodontics specialists in the past two years and have spend thousands of dollars trying to get dentures that work. One dentist finally processed a set of dentures made by another provider for 30 hours and voila – the chemical burns stopped. I have oral bullous phemigoid from the burns and the lastest, and most expensive, set of dentures I got a few months weeks ago are the worst yet. Providers – no matter what level of their expertise – simply will not listen. How does one find a provider who will?
Thanks for your help,
Nancy
Hello Merrilyn,
I’m 35 yo woman who has really bad teeth due to series of unfortunate event. I grew up in Asia and at such young age I already had a lot of fillings. When I was 24, I moved to USA and when I was 26 I went to the dentist for check up. They told me I had root canals, so I did the treatment not knowing ant better. Fast forward, apparently dentist did not do a good job and I had some bone lost.
oh I also had braces done when I was teenager, big mistake! Dentist pulled 3 teeth out and had tightened my teeth too tight too fast, so I have a lot of black triangles, and my teeth roots are kind of loose.
I just had one tooth extracted recently and possibly 7 more in the future. I am really depressed.
Not sure if i should go with implants or dentures.
Could you please email me? I would love to get some inputs and support.
Thank you.
Hi Arie. Thanks for your comment. Sorry to hear about your current situation. I will email you shortly.
a new set of dentures that had been made for me BURNED my mouth & gums within 5 days of wearing them….when I removed them, going back to the old dentures, the burning stopped within a day. I had the new ones in several times before returning them. But to late, the burning has continued now for 4-years.
Now a dental surgeon is coming up with every other reason for the burning…..except the Obvious!
I am being insistent….telling him the chemical from those dentures are in my mouth tissue, burning the hell out of my mouth and I want to know what I need to do to neutralize it/them. His technician is consulting with a denturist.
I’ve been to dentist and doctors, to no avail. Now my whole body hurts daily.
Going Crazy!
High dose vitamin C can neutralize any toxins. Would be worth trying megadoses, taking to bowel tolerance. You take 3-5 grams every 15 minutes (ascorbic acid powder in water) until you get loose stools.
Also try oil pulling. You just swish oil (olive or coconut are best) in your mouth for 20 minutes, spit out and brush or just rinse. This is effective for drawing toxins out of the mouth.
Good luck! Arie, IMO implants are much better than dentures. There are a number of implant clinics in Costa Rica that do great work and are much more affordable than in the U.S.
I have read your article and found that, the chemical use by the dentist to clean the teeth, is sometimes very much sensitive as well as harmful to our teeth. Thank you for the information.
I just had a new set of dentures made and I am getting the burning in my mouth, the denture has not much of a gap between the upper and lower so I don’t have much room to chew. I have been living a nitemre, Had implants placed before dentures, but they weren’t done right, Had them removed, thinking about having them done again but with someone that knows what they are doing, can’t do dentures, I have no life, and am very depressed.
would love to know of a great oral surgeon and prostodontist in sacramento area .that does implants.
Unfortunately, taking lots of Vitamin C helps to release more chemicals from the denture plastics I have used. Vitamin C is very good at dissolving petro-chemicals and plastics.
If you take Vitamin C when you have dentures, you should remove the dentures first, then swallow your Vitamin C, rinse the mouth, and replace the dentures.