If you have recently been equipped with a set of dentures, it is vitally important that you know how to properly clean your dentures. Here are three things that are helpful to know about denture cleaning as a new denture wearer.

#1 Clean Your Dentures After Every Meal

Unlike with teeth, which you should brush when you wake up and when you go to sleep, you should clean your dentures after every meal. When you are done eating, you should take your dentures and run some water over them or wipe them down with a damp towel in order to remove the food off of them. Use water that is lukewarm when you clean your dentures.

If you have your denture brush available, you should use the brush to clean them as well. However, even if you don't have your denture brush together, you should rinse them off.

After each meal, you can also fill a cup with warm water and dip your dentures into the cup of warm water. You can let them sit in the warm water for a minute before pulling them out and cleaning them. This can be a safer way to clean your dentures than holding them under running water; putting them in warm water reduces the risk that they would fall out of your hands and get dropped while you are cleaning.

#2 Be Careful With How You Hold Your Dentures

When you take your dentures off and wash them, you need to be careful with how you hold and handle your dentures. You should not hold onto the both ends of your dentures; holding on to both ends often leads to dentures getting broken. Instead, hold your dentures from the middle or keep one hand in the middle and one on the side of your dentures. Remember to be gently and don't put too much pressure on your dentures when you hold them.

#3 Avoids Pastes & Powders

When you get dentures, you are probably going to start noticing all the denture pastes and powders that are for sale for you to use with your dentures. If you choose to use pastes and powders, you should not use them after every meal or every day on your dentures. These products should only be used on an occasional basis. When used on a daily and/or regular basis, denture powders and pastes can actually damage the surface of your dentures and cause them to wear down at an accelerated rate.

Talk to your dentist for more information.