Almost every day we speak to people who’ve superglued their dentures at home in a desperate bid to fix them. The superglue usually fails within a day but even worse, the dentures end up permanently damaged in the process and typically need to be fully remade as a result.
Superglue is good for many things around the house, but fixing custom oral appliances is certainly not one of them and here’s why:
It can’t effectively bond to acrylic
Acrylic dentures have a smooth surface that household glues can’t properly grip or soak into. Even if the dentures are held steady until the glue is dried, any hold between the broken parts will be very weak and is liable to break once pressure (from chewing, biting or even talking) is applied.
Household glues are not usually medical grade
Medical grade bonding agents used by dentists and doctors must undergo rigorous checks before they are cleared for use on humans. Superglue on the other hand, usually carries a warning telling you to keep it well away from eyes, mouth and skin. Not only could the glue make you ill, it’s also unlikely to withstand the effects of near constant immersion in warm saliva and could start to break down in the mouth.
Glue can damage dentures
The worst part about using glue on your dentures isn’t that it won’t fix them, but that it’s likely to actively damage the denture and distort it in a way that makes future repairs impossible. Once glue hardens on your denture, it deforms the surface so the pieces cannot fit together exactly as they used to, if this happens it could render the denture useless and it will need a full replacement.
What if you’ve already glued your dentures?
If you’re reading this too late and the glue has set on your dentures, there’s a small chance we can still help. Book it in for a repair with us and one of our senior technicians will use a fine motorised bur to try and buff away the glue so we can get the pieces to fit back together. If it doesn’t work, we’ll refund your fee and send the denture back.
Leave it to the professionals
Good dental technicians draw on years of experience and training when working with dentures and being hands-on people ourselves, we fully understand the temptation to try a cheap DIY fix. But unless you’re using the correct tools, materials and technique, it’s unlikely to work and will probably end up costing more in the long run. Don’t risk ruining your denture. If it breaks, send it in to the Denture Medics team for a repair. We fix and return within 24-48 hours and if it’s in need of a bit of TLC you can book it in for a professional clean too!