I Thought I Would Have to Live With Sore Denture Gums Forever

My name is Anna. I'm 67, and I've worn a full upper and lower for 5 years.

For most of that time, my gums hurt every single day.

It always started in the morning. I'd push my plate in and suck in a breath. By lunch there was a hot, raw spot. By dinner it felt like a bruise.

I stopped eating apples. I cut my toast into tiny squares.

At my grandson's birthday, I took my bottom teeth out in the bathroom just to get through the cake.

Everything I tried

• ✕Salt water rinses, 4 times a day. They felt nice for about 30 seconds. Then I'd spit, and the pain was right back.
• ✕Numbing gel from the drugstore. It wore off before I finished my soup. Then I read the box. It said not to use it more than 7 days. I'd used it for months.
• ✕Ibuprofen. It dulled the ache, but my gum was just as sore the next morning.
• ✕My dentist adjusted my plate 3 times. Each time, a new sore spot showed up a few weeks later.

I really believed this was just what dentures were.

The question I couldn't answer

Then one night my daughter stayed over. She watched me take my teeth out and rub my gums with my thumb.

She asked me something I'd never thought about.

I didn't have an answer.

What she explained

She's a nurse, so she explained it simply. My plate covers my gums up to 16 hours a day. Under it, my saliva can't rinse the tissue.

And every bite presses the plate into the same strip of gum. So the gum never settles down. It just gets rubbed raw again the next day.

Then she said the part that stuck with me.

The only time my gums are uncovered is at night, while I sleep. About 8 hours. And I was putting nothing on them.

It wasn't that I picked the wrong gel. Nothing I used was made to stay there.

Something made for the night

I went looking for something you put on at night and leave on. Most things were rinses or gels again.

Then I found Zyara Gum Drops.

It's a light oil, not a gel. At bedtime you take your teeth out, put 2 drops on your fingertip, and spread it along your gum. Then you sleep. No swishing.

It has propolis, which has been studied in older denture wearers. It also has clove, myrrh, and peppermint. My mom used clove for toothaches, so that felt familiar.

I'll be honest. I didn't expect much. But it made sense in a way nothing else had.

What changed

Last Sunday, I ate pot roast with my family. I laughed with my mouth open.

Nobody noticed. But I did.

If your gums hurt every day

The way I see it, you have 2 options.