Taking Your Dentures Camping
Well summer is officially here and that is often the time one sets out on the yearly adventure of a camping trip. Once away from home normal routines and convenience are changed leaving us more open to mishap and misadventures. For those of you with dentures you will want to take some extra precautions to guard against a disaster that can cut your vacation short.
Number one rule. If you have a spare pair, take them. Even older dentures with less than adequate fit can be used temporarily with some adhesive paste like Polygrip if the need should arise.
If you are accustomed to removing your dentures while you sleep, bring a secure container like a denture box to place them in. Store them in a safe location. Many a denture has fallen victim to the family dog looking for a chew toy, for whatever reason dogs find dentures irresistible and destroy them in short order.
Cleaning dentures away from the safe confines of your bathroom also takes some thought. Wandering down to the lake or streamside for a quick brushing can result in your smile being lost to the depths as they slip from your fingers. Bring a bowl or container preferably soft plastic, not metal or glass. Collect your water and do the cleansing back in the relative safety of camp.
Water activities like surfing, scuba diving and kayaking, water skiing and of course getting seasick account for their share of denture loss each year. If you are going to participate in these types of activities be aware a good jolt of water to an open mouth can dislodge and wash away your plate. As for seasickness, well if it gets that bad make sure you remove your dentures before vomiting overboard lest you loose more than the contents of your stomach.
Broken dentures, it happens, so much fun to be had and so many hard things to drop or hit them on. In the event of breakage collect up all the broken pieces and do not use crazy glue to try and fix the problem. Many on otherwise reparable denture has been ruined by over zealous glue jobs that alter the clean edges required for your dental office to properly piece them back together.
That nagging sore spot, talk about bad timing. In this event try and remove your dentures at night to rest your oral tissues. Rinsing with lukewarm salt water can also help relieve some of the symptoms. If your lucky the problem may simply resolve on its own otherwise you're stuck to soft foods until you get home to have it adjusted by your dentist or denturist.
Life can be unpredictable and when away from home things can well, just happen. A couple of years ago a patient was describing how she had managed to so badly break her denture. It seems she was leaning out the passenger door of her 4X4 shouting directions to her husband in order to navigate a tough bit of terrain. Unfortunately she yelled so loud her denture came out with perfect timing for him to run it over.
Ouch!