Broken Denture Repair Costs: What You'll Actually Pay

Drop your dentures once on a tile floor and you'll discover something interesting about modern acrylic. It's strong enough for daily chewing but brittle enough to crack on impact.

The crack runs right through the pink base, your front tooth pops off, or the whole thing snaps clean in half. Now you're standing there holding pieces and wondering whether this is a £50 fix or a £500 disaster.

The answer depends almost entirely on what broke and how long you've had the dentures. Fresh cracks in recent dentures usually repair well. Old breaks in worn dentures often signal it's time for replacement anyway.

Quick Price Overview

Simple repairs like reattaching a single tooth or fixing a small crack cost £80 to £150 and take a few hours to a day. Your dentist sends the denture to the lab, they glue or re-acrylic the broken section, and you're back in business.

Major repairs like fixing a denture broken in half or replacing multiple teeth run £200 to £350. These take longer because the lab needs to properly bond the pieces and ensure the repair won't fail under normal use.

The structural integrity question matters more than the cosmetic one. A repair that looks fine but fails when you bite into toast is worse than useless.

Same-day emergency repairs cost more, typically £150 to £250 even for simple fixes. You're paying for priority lab work and the convenience of walking out with working dentures instead of waiting days.

At UrgentCare Dental, emergency appointments start at £20, which gets you assessed immediately. The repair cost depends on what's actually broken, but having same-day access means you're not stuck without teeth while waiting for a regular appointment.

Being without teeth affects more than just eating. It affects your willingness to leave the house at all.

What Actually Breaks

The pink acrylic base cracks most commonly. This happens from dropping dentures, biting down wrong on hard food, or just age-related material fatigue.

Small cracks repair easily. Large ones that run through critical stress points often mean replacement. The crack location matters as much as the crack size.

Teeth chip or pop off when you bite something unexpectedly hard or if the bonding weakens over time. A single tooth replacement is straightforward.

Multiple tooth failures usually indicate the whole denture is reaching end of life. It's like when one thing breaks on an old car and everything else starts going too.

Clasps on partial dentures bend or break more often than the denture itself. Metal clasps can usually be repaired or replaced for £100 to £180, though finding a lab that does quality clasp repair is harder than it should be.

The specialized skill set for clasp work means fewer technicians offer it. Supply and demand keeps prices higher.

The Age Factor Changes Everything

Dentures less than two years old are almost always worth repairing. The base material is still in good condition, and a proper repair will hold for years.

Dentures over five years old present a different calculation. The acrylic has absorbed water and saliva, making it weaker and more brittle.

Repairs on old dentures often fail within months because the surrounding material can't support the fix properly. You're trying to patch rotting wood at that point.

Your dentist will usually tell you honestly whether repair makes sense or whether you're throwing good money after bad. When they're recommending replacement, it's usually because the repair won't last long enough to justify the cost.

The uncomfortable truth is that sometimes the break is your denture's way of telling you it was done anyway.

Same-Day Repairs vs Lab Work

Some dentists have chairside repair kits for emergency temporary fixes. These use quick-setting acrylic that bonds the broken pieces well enough to last a few days while proper lab repair happens. This service typically costs £50 to £80.

Proper lab repairs take 24 to 48 hours for simple jobs and up to a week for complex ones. The lab uses heat-cured acrylic that's much stronger than chairside materials.

This is what you want for a repair that needs to last. The curing process matters more than people realize for long-term durability.

Same-day lab repairs are possible at practices with in-house labs or close relationships with nearby commercial labs. You drop off in the morning and pick up that evening.

The quality matches standard lab work but costs 20% to 40% more for the rush service. You're essentially paying them to bump everyone else's work to get yours done immediately.

Multiple Break Problems

When dentures break in more than one place, the repair calculation gets complicated. Fixing two breaks might cost £250, but replacement full dentures start around £500. At that point, replacement often makes more sense.

Each repair slightly weakens the denture. When you're on your second or third repair of the same denture, you're entering a cycle where more breaks become increasingly likely.

This is when dentists start pushing toward replacement. They're not trying to upsell you. They're trying to get you off the repair treadmill.

Some labs won't guarantee repairs on dentures that have been previously repaired. The material becomes too unpredictable, and they don't want callbacks when the repair fails.

The lab's refusal to guarantee work is usually a sign you should listen to.

The Fit Issue

Repairing a broken denture doesn't fix fit problems. When your dentures were loose before they broke, they'll still be loose after repair. You might need a reline after repair to get proper fit, which adds £150 to £300 to the total cost.

Sometimes dentures break because they don't fit properly anymore. The uneven pressure creates stress points that eventually crack.

In these cases, repair without addressing the fit problem just delays the inevitable next break. You're treating the symptom instead of the disease.

Your dentist can assess whether poor fit contributed to the break. When it did, they typically recommend reline or replacement rather than just repair.

The pattern recognition matters here. A denture that broke from impact is different from one that broke from accumulated stress.

Weekend Emergency Options

Breaking dentures on Friday evening is remarkably common. Whether this is actual bad luck or people noticing the break when they have time to deal with it is unclear.

Murphy's Law seems to apply especially strongly to dental emergencies.

Weekend emergency dentists typically charge £150 to £300 just for the emergency appointment on top of repair costs. Most do temporary fixes only, with proper repair scheduled for normal business hours.

Some practices offer emergency denture repair services specifically for this situation. They maintain stock dentures that can be modified as temporary replacements while yours get repaired properly.

This costs £100 to £200 but means you're not without teeth all weekend. The temporary solution bridges the gap until proper repair becomes possible.

DIY Repair Reality

Superglue and denture adhesive seem like obvious quick fixes. They're also why dentists see so many dentures that are now unfixable.

Household adhesives contaminate the break surfaces with chemicals that prevent proper bonding later. Labs have to grind away the contaminated acrylic, which weakens the denture and makes professional repair harder.

You're making the repair more expensive and less likely to succeed. The temporary convenience costs you significantly in the long run.

Drugstore denture repair kits are marginally better than superglue but still problematic. The acrylic they use doesn't bond properly to aged denture material, and the repairs typically fail within days.

When you absolutely must do emergency DIY repair to get through a weekend, products specifically sold for denture repair work better than household glue. Following the directions exactly helps.

But understand it's temporary. Professional repair needs to happen as soon as possible. Every day you delay makes the eventual repair harder.

The Spare Denture Strategy

People who can afford it often keep a spare set of dentures. When the primary set needs repair, they have immediate backup without emergency appointment costs.

The spare set strategy costs around £700 to £1,200 upfront for the second set, but it eliminates emergency repair premiums and the stress of being without teeth while repairs happen.

The peace of mind factor is significant. Knowing you have backup changes how you approach the whole situation.

Old dentures that have been replaced make decent emergency spares even when they don't fit perfectly anymore. At least you have something to wear in public while your current dentures are being fixed.

The fit might not be great, but "not great" beats "completely absent" in most social situations.

Insurance Coverage

Most dental insurance plans cover denture repairs partially, typically 50% to 70% of the cost. However, they usually limit you to one repair per denture per year.

When you've already had one repair covered this year, you're paying full price for subsequent repairs. This is another factor that pushes toward replacement rather than multiple repairs.

The insurance limits exist because they're trying to avoid covering maintenance on dentures that should be replaced. They're using policy limits to encourage better long-term decisions.

Some insurance plans cover replacement dentures every five years but only cover repairs to extend the life of dentures past that five-year mark. Checking your specific plan's repair coverage limits prevents surprises.

When Replacement Makes More Sense

Dentures over seven years old probably need replacing rather than repairing regardless of repair cost. The fit has degraded, the acrylic has aged, and you're approaching replacement time anyway.

When repair costs exceed 40% of replacement cost, replacement makes better financial sense. A £300 repair on dentures you'll replace next year anyway wastes money.

The math becomes clearer when you look at it as delaying the inevitable versus solving the problem.

Multiple breaks in short succession signal material failure. Once dentures start breaking repeatedly, they're done.

Continuing to repair them costs more than replacement while giving you less reliable results. You're essentially gambling on how long each repair will last.

The Tooth Replacement Consideration

Lost or broken denture teeth are easy to replace individually when you catch them quickly. Once the tooth is gone more than a few weeks, your remaining natural teeth or opposing denture teeth may shift slightly, making the replacement tooth fit poorly.

Replacing multiple teeth at once makes sense economically. The lab setup cost is similar whether they're replacing one tooth or three. Batching replacements when multiple teeth are loose can save money.

Tooth colour matching becomes harder as dentures age. The original teeth discolour differently than the acrylic base. New replacement teeth look obviously new against old denture teeth.

Sometimes this pushes toward full replacement for aesthetic reasons. One bright white tooth in a set of yellowed ones looks worse than all yellowed ones.

Finding Emergency Repair Services

Not all dental practices handle emergency repairs. Many outsource to labs that only pick up once daily, making same-day repair impossible.

Practices with in-house labs or denture clinics usually offer faster repair turnaround. Calling ahead about typical repair timelines before committing helps you plan.

The question to ask is "When is your next lab pickup?" That tells you everything about their emergency capabilities.

Denture-specific clinics often do repairs while you wait for simple breaks. These clinics see so many repairs that they've optimized the process. Costs are usually competitive with general dentists because they have higher volume.

The Prevention Conversation

Most broken dentures result from dropping them during cleaning. Using a folded towel in the sink creates a soft landing surface when you drop them.

This simple habit prevents most break incidents. The towel costs nothing and saves hundreds in repairs.

Storing dentures in water when not wearing them matters. Acrylic that dries out becomes more brittle and prone to cracking. This also prevents warping, which creates stress points.

The water storage rule is simple but easy to forget when you're tired at night.

Removing dentures before sleeping unless your dentist specifically recommends wearing them at night helps. This gives your gums rest time and reduces the chance of rolling over on your dentures or grinding them during sleep.

The Bottom Line

Simple repairs make sense for dentures under five years old. The cost is reasonable, the repair will last, and you'll get more useful life from dentures you've already paid for.

Complex repairs on older dentures usually don't make economic sense. You're better off putting that repair money toward replacement dentures that will fit better and last longer.

The emotional attachment to dentures is real even though they're just dental appliances. But attachment doesn't change the material science of ageing acrylic.

Emergency repair services cost more but provide real value when you need immediate function. Being without teeth affects work, social interaction, and eating.

The premium for same-day service is often worth it. The alternative is explaining to your boss why you can't come to the meeting.

The best repair is prevention. Handling your dentures carefully, storing them properly, and keeping them moist prevents most problems. Most breaks are preventable with basic care habits.

And when you can afford it, a spare set eliminates the emergency repair question entirely. The backup denture approach shifts the entire dynamic from crisis management to routine maintenance.