James talks about Fitting Dentures

How did you feel immediately after?

Well initially it was only a temporary thing, so I was going to have to put up with dentures. I was more concerned about comfort, or discomfort and function, I was like, “How will these things work? “Will I be able to eat?” – And quickly discovered I couldn’t! I ended up chewing on dentures rather than sandwiches and stuff like that.

Were you concerned about how they would look?

I certainly wouldn’t be very happy walking around without any teeth at the front at all. It’s not quite as bad for me but it’s bad for other people because they’re always kind of saying ‘Well what – what were you doing?’ – “You can see people when…” – I had three weeks recently when I didn’t have any teeth so I had to keep on explaining to people why, and I did a lot of talking behind my hand, so it was not good for things like smiling and stuff.

What support did you get from your dentist?

When I asked about what kind of care it needed and cleaning and things I was, in the first instance, a bit more concerned about (well I was quite sore and things anyway), what I was going to do if I wasn’t comfortable or it doesn’t fit - whether i should come back.

What information did you receive about your fitting?

Nobody suggested to me that I could use a fixative of any description, so I’m amazed that they didn’t because there were things floating about in my mouth! Which I think was pretty poor frankly, so I was quite glad when the suggestion came up, and then it worked very well.