My Dentures Makes Me Gag

I have tried very hard to get used to my upper dentures, but every time they are in I gag so much that I end up taking them out. I haven’t been able to eat decently in a long time. Is there any solution to this?

Frannie

Dear Frannie,

You are not alone in your frustration with dentures. They present a lot of quality of life issues. The gag reflex you are experiencing is one of them. Chewing capacity is another of them. Even the best fitting dentures will reduce your chewing capacity by 50%.

It is your denture plate which is causing your gagging. The problem is that an upper denture is kept in by suction. You need that denture plate in order to get that suction. The ideal solution for your situation is to have dental implants placed and anchor your dentures to those. This will eliminate the need to have anything on your palate which means there is nothing there to gag on.

If you have lower dentures, than having implant supported dentures will be even more important. Those are not held in by suction. Instead, they rest on the ridge of your jawbone. The big issue with that is as soon as your teeth were removed, your body recognized that you didn’t have to support any teeth because the roots were no longer there.

In order to be as efficient as possible with your body’s resources, your body takes the minerals in your jawbone and resorbs them in order to use them elsewhere. The big problem with that is your jawbone slowly shrinks as a result.

Eventually, you will no longer have enough jawbone left to keep in your dentures. This is known as facial collapse. The way to prevent that is, again, with dental implants. Your body interprets that as having teeth roots and leaves your jawbone intact.

Dental implants can be a bit pricey. If that is out of your reach, or can only get enough for one arch and not both, there is another possible solution. First, though, if you have lower dentures, all priority should go to getting dental implants for those to prevent facial collapse.

As for your upper dentures, there is a dentist in the U.K. who came up with a procedure to help his patients with a strong gag reflex. Your denture plate should extend on your palate to the vibrating line. That is where your soft palate begins. The denture touching that is the most common cause of the gag reflex.

If you cut that back just a little, as you can see in the image, then it can prevent that feeling which makes you gag. You can’t cut it back too much or you will lose the suction that keeps the dentures in place. If you can’t get dental implants, this is worth trying.

This blog is brought to you by a gentle dentist in Cincinnati, Dr. Fred Peck.