A dental relining is resurfacing the surface of the teeth with a new material. Dental relining can be done in two ways one is the direct way and the other is indirect way. This is necessary because the tissues or bones of your teeth may change from time to time. By this, the dentures that you wear may become loose after the tooth extraction due the shrinking of the bone and they must be re-fitted nothing but relined from time to time as they don’t fit your jaw well. For denture relining, two methods are available one is direct way done at the chair side and the other is indirect way done in lab. This two methods are discussed below.
Types of denture relines
1. Hard (dental office or lab)
2. Soft (dental office)
Hard relines:
Hard relines are made of a material used for hardening the denture. With this, the dentures can be fixed for a long time than soft relines. The reshaping procedure is same for the both but the material used differs. This hard relines can be done at chairside or at the lab. Even though they can be done in both ways many dentists recommend them to send outside as there is a chance of raising the complications when they are unfit. To get the hard resins that are sent, you must wait without dentures till they are fixed.
Soft relines
This is a preferred option as compared to denture because they are more comfortable than hard relines. If the patient who is with bone resorption taking place rapidly, then this type of dentures will be very useful for them. The soft relines are done at office by adding a liquid polymer in the form of layer into the denture for cushion and depth. This is done very quickly and securely than the hard relines. This fine tuning of the soft relines has to be done frequently for optimal fitting, or if you want them to be for long time, you can move for hard relines which will be a better option.
The procedure carried for both is same, the only difference is if they are done in lab, the palate will be removed and placed with new one before they are processed.
The chairside relining will have some disadvantages when compared to the relines done in the lab. They are:
- Due to polymerization of materials, the heat gets released which could burn the oral mucosa.
- Patients having chairside relining may have unpleasant taste and discomfort.
- Stability of the color may be poor.
- Some materials will have very less life span or limited life span and also will have weaker bond strength.