My Dog Chewed My Dentures! Can They Be Fixed? (Emergency Repair Guide)

"My Dog Ate My Teeth!"

If you are reading this in a panic because you just found your expensive dentures in the jaws of your beloved Golden Retriever, take a deep breath. You are not the first person this has happened to, and you certainly won't be the last.

At Oak Park Dental & Denture Clinic, "my dog chewed my dentures" is actually one of the most common reasons we get frantic early morning phone calls. It happens constantly.

But why do dogs do it? Can the dentures be saved? And what should you do right now? Here is your emergency action plan.

Why Do Dogs Love Chewing on Dentures?

You might think your dog chewed your dentures out of spite, but the reality is much sweeter (from the dog's perspective, anyway).

Dogs have an incredible sense of smell. To your dog, you are the most important person in the world, and your scent is deeply comforting. Because dentures spend all day in your mouth, they are heavily infused with your unique saliva and scent markers.

When you leave your dentures on the nightstand, your dog smells you. They grab the dentures to feel close to you, and because acrylic plastic has a highly satisfying, bone-like crunch, they naturally start chewing. It is an act of affection that unfortunately results in hundreds of dollars of dental damage.

What NOT To Do (The Superglue Warning)

If you gather up the pieces of your chewed denture and think, "I'll just glue this back together," STOP IMMEDIATELY.

This is the absolute worst thing you can do for two critical reasons:

1. Superglue is highly toxic. Commercial superglues contain cyanoacrylate, which is toxic to human tissue and will slowly poison your gums.
2. You will ruin the repair margins. When a denture breaks, the acrylic snaps along microscopic fault lines. A professional prosthetist can puzzle these pieces back together perfectly and chemically weld them with fresh acrylic. If you put superglue on those edges, it ruins the clean margins. We have to grind the glue away, which means the pieces will never fit together perfectly again.

Read more: Why Supergluing Your Broken Denture is a Terrible Idea

Can Chewed Dentures Be Fixed?

The short answer is: Usually, yes!

The long answer depends on how much fun your dog had before you caught them:

• Best Case Scenario (A clean snap or missing tooth): If the dog simply snapped the denture in half, or popped out a couple of the artificial front teeth, this is a very straightforward fix. We can chemically bond the acrylic back together in our lab, often leaving it stronger than before.
• Moderate Damage (Missing flanges or heavy bite marks): If the pink acrylic gum area is chewed up, we can often rebuild that section by taking a quick impression of your mouth and pouring fresh acrylic to match the exact shape.
• Worst Case Scenario (Total destruction or missing pieces): If the dog swallowed half the denture, or crushed the entire framework into an unrecognizable powder, a repair is impossible. In this case, we must manufacture a brand new denture.

Your Emergency Action Plan

If your dog has just chewed your dentures, follow these steps right now:

1. Gather every single piece. Even the tiniest shards of pink acrylic or white teeth are helpful. Put them all in a clean ziplock bag.
2. Wash the pieces gently. Rinse off the dog saliva with cold water (never hot water, which warps the plastic). Do NOT use harsh chemicals or bleach.
3. Check on the dog. If your dog swallowed large, sharp shards of hard acrylic, or swallowed a metal clasp from a partial denture, call your vet immediately to ensure it won't cause an intestinal blockage.
4. Call a clinic with an On-Site Laboratory. Do not go to a general dentist who has to mail the pieces away to a lab (leaving you toothless for a week). You need a dedicated denture clinic.

We Fix Chewed Dentures Same-Day

At Oak Park Dental & Denture Clinic, we operate a full on-site dental laboratory. Because our technicians are right here in the building, we handle canine-related denture disasters every single week.

In most cases, if you bring the pieces to us in the morning, we can repair the denture and hand it back to you within 1 to 2 hours.