Fixodent Denture Adhesive Cream

...am writing a review about Fixodent Denture Cream, through the personal experiences of my nan and not my own, as I am not (obviously) a denture wearer myself yet! I feel I have to share this with you, as nan's experience with this product has not been a positive one.

Nan has lived with us since her stroke at the end of last year and it's only recently that she's started to socialise out of the house with her friends again. She has recently ...
...my dad bought her some Fixodent Denture Cream from our local chemist. He paid £2.99 for it, but I've seen it since in Boots for £2.49 and Tesco for £2.35, so I know you can get it cheaper. It comes in a blue 40ml tube and looks a lot like toothpaste till you read the box! You can get it in different flavours, including Original, Fresh and Neutral. Nan likes a nice minty flavour, so dad got her the Original variety and nan seemed pleased when she ... more

I am writing a review about Fixodent Denture Cream, through the personal experiences of my nan and not my own, as I am not (obviously) a denture wearer myself yet! I feel I have to share this with you, as nan's experience with this product has not been a positive one.

Nan has lived with us since her stroke at the end of last year and it's only recently that she's started to socialise out of the house with her friends again. She has recently started to go out to Bingo again with her friend Ruby on Thursday nights. She's been twice now, and dad drops them off at the door of the Gala and collects them again afterwards. Nan really looks forward to it and it's the highlight of her week.

She got hair permed recently but was moaning that her teeth weren't "fitting" properly, like they used to. Mum thinks her gums have shrunk a bit and her dentures are rubbing her gums and causing her some irritation. Nan sometimes uses a cream to fix her dentures from Tesco but she only fixes them if she's 'going out' somewhere special and she generally doesn't bother if she's just sitting in the house all day. As she's been housebound now for a few months, she's just been popping in her dentures and not bothering to use her fixative cream, but as she's now going out with her mates, she's started to want to use her denture cream again, so that her teeth stay in place and don't pop out and embarrass her.

She didn't bring any denture cream with her when she moved in with us, so when she asked us to get buy her some recently, my dad bought her some Fixodent Denture Cream from our local chemist. He paid £2.99 for it, but I've seen it since in Boots for £2.49 and Tesco for £2.35, so I know you can get it cheaper. It comes in a blue 40ml tube and looks a lot like toothpaste till you read the box! You can get it in different flavours, including Original, Fresh and Neutral. Nan likes a nice minty flavour, so dad got her the Original variety and nan seemed pleased when she sniffed the tube.

I've never actually seen anyone use this stuff before, so the day nan was getting ready to go out, I was engrossed as I watched her use it for the first time. First, she took her clean, dry teeth and then put little plops all around the plate and a few more for good measure. She then put her upper and lower plates into her mouth and pressed them into place. She said she had to wait for a few minutes before she could eat or drink anything hot as this might make the adhesive not work as well as it should. She waited for the right amount of time and as it was only about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and she wasn't going out till about seven, she had plenty of time.

Mum made her a cup of tea and as she likes a toasted teacake in the afternoon, she settled down to eat it. After a couple of bites, nan complained that the teacake tasted "funny". Mum said it was the one she normally likes and told her not to be daft, but nan insisted it didn't taste like it normally did and said it was a bit "minty". We figured out it was her denture cream she could taste and when we looked inside her mouth we could see pink oozing out from the sides and underneath her plate! It was gross!

Nan wasn't happy and she removed her teeth and set about re-doing them again, but this time using less paste. She washed and dried her teeth, applied the paste (only less this time) and popped them into place. Sure enough, about half an hour later the same thing happened again. This stuff is supposed to act like an adhesive and 'grip' your dentures to your gums and also the box and tube states it's supposed to work at keeping your teeth in place between eight to twelve hours. Nan's teeth were sliding around inside her mouth and the pink paste was still coming out in little bits inside her mouth and she said it was making her feel a bit sick. I felt really sorry for her and as it was too late to go out to buy a different brand, nan just said she'd be okay and go to Bingo without any denture cream at all.

Nan still had a good night out with her mates, despite the lack of denture cream, and she reckons she'd rather do without than have to taste the paste under her plate. Mum is taking nan to see a dentist though as we think she needs new dentures as her mouth/gums seem to have shrunk a lot as she's got older. One of the front teeth has also completely snapped off due to her dog biting on it when she left them on her bedside cabinet a long time ago. Nan insists they fit and look fine, but we think she needs a 'dental makeover' and mum is taking her to the dentist next week to get her sorted.

Meantime, nan says she'll be sticking to her tried and tested Tesco dental adhesive and giving Fixodent Denture Adhesive Cream a very wide berth!! 

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