The auctioning of Winston Churchill’s gold dentures, which sold for £18,000 last month, should really have been held on March 9, which as everyone will know is National False Teeth Day.
One in five adults wear dentures and behind each set of dentures is an individual’s story of how the teeth came to be absent. These accounts are personal, varied, and full of all sorts of scenarios that led to the loss of the teeth - like backward headbutts from children, fainting onto curb stones, enduring sugar addictions, oral cancers, or the teeth just frustratingly failing to develop in the first place.
Churchill suffered from recurrent abscesses that made his face swell alarmingly, necessitating tooth removal and the construction of his dentures. He was consumed with the fear that something would happen to his dentures, affecting his ability to speak properly, so he had a few pairs made just to be on the safe side.
But tooth loss and denture wearing is not just a physical thing; it affects people to their core. Some people are incredibly sad at the loss of their teeth, almost like a bereavement. Others are angry; sometimes blaming parents for not taking care of their teeth properly as children or angry at themselves for continuing a habit that destroyed the teeth or at times angry at the dentist for perceived lack of appropriate treatment.
So, it can be a shock for people to see a gap in their smile for the first time while at the same time having to get used to a denture in their mouth. Dentures feel massive at first as the tongue is so sensitive and eating takes practice as dentures may move, even with adhesives. Understandably, it takes people different amounts of time to get used to a denture.
Some people are incredibly sad at the loss of their teeth, almost like a bereavement. Others are angry; sometimes blaming parents for not taking care of their teeth properly as children or angry at themselves for continuing a habit that destroyed the teeth or at times angry at the dentist for perceived lack of appropriate treatment
However, for some people acceptance of a denture is blocked as they have a denture phobia sometimes linked to seeing someone close to them dealing with dentures and the negative associations this invokes in the mind.
So, if someone is unable to tolerate a denture for whatever reason then the alternatives are to leave the gap or opt for bridge and implant treatment, so a denture doesn’t need to be worn.
