For patients who’ve never worn a dental prosthesis before, the prospect of getting dentures for the first time can feel daunting. There are unknowns about the process, the fitting experience, and (most commonly) what the first few weeks of wearing them will actually feel like.
This guide is intended to remove those unknowns. The process is well-established, the steps are predictable, and the vast majority of patients at our West Byfleet practice adapt to their dentures within a few weeks. The key is knowing what each stage involves before you arrive for it, so that nothing catches you off guard and so that you can prepare practically for each appointment.
Your Initial Consultation
The first appointment is a consultation and assessment rather than any active treatment. We examine your mouth thoroughly: the condition of any remaining teeth, the health of your gum tissue, the bone ridge that will support the denture, and your bite relationship between upper and lower jaws.
We’ll discuss what type of denture is appropriate for you, the likely number of appointments required, the associated costs, and the expected timeline from first impression to completed appliance. This is also the appointment where you should raise any questions you’ve been considering: about appearance, about how natural the teeth will look, about whether adhesive will be necessary, about eating and speaking. We’d rather answer those questions early than have you leave with unresolved concerns.
If any extractions are required before dentures can be made, we’ll discuss whether to proceed with an immediate denture (fitted on the same day as extractions) or to allow a healing period first. Each approach has clinical merits depending on your individual situation, and we’ll explain both clearly.
Impressions and Measurements
Once a treatment plan is agreed, your next appointment involves taking impressions of your mouth. A soft material is placed over your gum ridge and held there briefly while it sets, creating an accurate mould of your jaw’s shape and contour. These impressions are sent to a dental laboratory where they’ll form the basis for constructing your denture.
A further appointment is usually needed to record your bite: the relationship between your upper and lower jaw when your teeth are together. For patients having complete dentures, this is particularly important, because the vertical height of the denture affects your facial appearance and the efficiency of your bite. Getting this right takes care and often a degree of clinical judgement based on photographs, your natural tooth wear patterns, and facial measurements.
Worth knowing: the laboratory process takes time. From the point impressions are taken, the fabrication of a standard denture typically takes somewhere between three and five weeks. Don’t be surprised by the gap between appointments. This is normal and reflects the precision work being done at the laboratory.
The Try-In Appointment
Before the final denture is made, you’ll attend a try-in appointment where a wax version of the appliance is assessed in your mouth. The teeth are set in wax at this stage, which allows adjustments to be made before the denture is processed into its final form.
At the try-in, we check the fit, the bite, the position and spacing of the teeth, the shade, and the overall aesthetics. You’ll have the opportunity to see how the denture looks and to ask for modifications if anything doesn’t look right to you. This is the stage at which changes are easiest to make, and we encourage patients to be direct about what they want adjusted.
And it’s worth knowing that what looks slightly unusual in a wax try-in often looks perfectly natural once the denture is processed and polished. Wax has a different optical quality from the finished acrylic. But if something is clearly misaligned or the shade isn’t right, say so at the try-in. It’s far simpler to correct before the appliance is processed than after.
Fitting Your New Dentures
The fitting appointment is where your completed denture is placed in your mouth for the first time. We check the fit, the bite, and the occlusion (that the upper and lower teeth meet correctly and that there aren’t any obvious high spots creating uneven pressure).
| Appointment | What Happens | Typical Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Consultation | Assessment, treatment planning, cost discussion | Week 1 |
| Primary impressions | Initial moulds of jaw shape | Week 2 to 3 |
| Secondary impressions and bite record | Refined impressions, jaw relationship recorded | Week 4 to 5 |
| Wax try-in | Teeth in wax assessed for aesthetics and fit | Week 6 to 7 |
| Fitting | Completed denture fitted and adjusted | Week 8 to 10 |
| Review | Sore spots addressed, minor adjustments | One to two weeks after fitting |
The fitting appointment rarely lasts more than an hour. Minor adjustments are made chairside using a small grinding instrument to relieve pressure points. You’ll leave wearing your dentures, and the instruction at this stage is simple: wear them as much as you can tolerate in the first week, but remove them at night.
The First Weeks: Common Experiences
Most patients we see report broadly similar experiences in the first fortnight. The denture feels large. There’s noticeably more saliva than usual. Certain words require a little more effort to pronounce clearly. Eating is slower and requires more thought.
These are all normal. The mouth adapts. The brain recalibrates to the new shape of things in a remarkably short time.
Sore spots are the most common reason for an unscheduled return visit in the first two weeks. A sore spot is an area where the denture base is pressing too firmly against the gum tissue, creating localised irritation. It’s not a sign that the denture is badly made: it’s a natural result of a rigid object sitting against dynamic tissue that changes slightly with eating and hydration. We adjust the fitting surface of the denture to relieve the pressure, and the soreness resolves quickly once the pressure point is removed.
In our experience, patients who expect some degree of discomfort in the first weeks handle the process considerably better than those who don’t. Discomfort isn’t failure. It’s part of getting used to something new, and it passes.
What to Eat (and What to Avoid) at First
Stick to soft foods cut into small pieces for the first two to three weeks. Scrambled eggs, fish, cooked vegetables, pasta, yoghurt. Avoid anything hard, sticky, or requiring significant biting force. Chew slowly and use both sides of the mouth simultaneously where possible, to distribute pressure evenly across the denture.
But you don’t have to eat soft food forever. The pattern we notice is that by four to six weeks, most patients have progressed back to a near-normal diet with only a few categories of food remaining problematic (very hard nuts and particularly chewy items being the most commonly mentioned).
And the process is gradual rather than abrupt. Most patients don’t wake up one day and find everything is suddenly easy; they simply notice, week by week, that fewer things are difficult.
Your Review Appointment and Beyond
We schedule a review visit one to two weeks after fitting as a matter of routine. At this appointment, we address sore spots, check the bite, and discuss any concerns you’ve encountered in the first days of wear. Most patients require one or two minor adjustments at this stage. A small number need a third adjustment visit in the following weeks.
After that, denture wearers should attend regular check-ups at least annually. We assess the fit of the denture, the health of the gum tissue and any remaining teeth, and the condition of the appliance itself. Dentures that aren’t checked regularly can develop poor fit that goes unnoticed by the wearer until the problems become significant and harder to correct.
To book your first denture consultation at Coniston Dental Practice, call our West Byfleet team on 01932 343 675. We’ll walk you through everything at the consultation, and you’ll leave knowing exactly what to expect at each stage of the process.
