Dear Kristen,
I wanted my dentures so bad so I could eat normal food like I did before my extractions, partial glossectomy, right neck dissection and rad treatments. There is a lower tori in my mouth as well that was supposed to be taken out with the extractions but it didn't get done. My radioncologist was in a big hurry to get me started on the rad treatments so the tori is causing me complications. I have had my upper and lower plate since April of this year. I can wear the upper plate with adhesive all day and it not hurt my gums after several adjustments and being patient. I feel the bottom plate is going to be a different story. I use adhesive on it too but is painful and rubs raw spots on my gums and is very uncomfortable. I have been waiting 24 hours between putting the bottoms in but I don't think that is long enough to heal. I have managed to eat 2 pieces of toast, 2 bananas, and a bowl of watermelon with the dentures in and it hurt my bottom gums whole time I was chewing. Relearning on how to use the tongue to push food between the dentures so I can chew has proven to be difficult too.
Thanks for the tip on baby wipes, I'll try them, I have been using paper towels to get the adhesive off my gums which that I agree that it sticks to my gums much better than to my dentures. Mouth wash seems to help with the adhesive as well as healing but I can't leave it in my mouth for long without burning my tongue.
I have had a soft food diet for about 2 1/2 years now and I don't see it changing anytime soon.
I also agree that Orajel is probably not a good idea though I have thought about it too.