Kids and Teeth from Babyhood to University

While throwing yourself out of a perfectly good plane to skydive might be your idea of a good time, a 72-year-old grandma discovered it was also a good way to lose your dentures. A popular video-sharing website shows that toothless skydivers are not an uncommon occurrence either. Since dentures aren't the cheapest item to replace, and you're unlikely to have a spare pair just sitting around at home, keeping them in your mouth while skydiving seems to be the best option. Can it be done? Keep these thoughts in mind before you strap on your parachute.

Before Your Skydive

Before you even set off to the airfield for your skydive, you need to be confident about how well-fitting your dentures currently are. Dentures do become loose over time because the bone and gum that sits beneath them slowly recedes away from the compression made when wearing the dentures.

Dentures should be relined every one to two years. This process makes sure that your dentures are still perfectly contoured to suit the shape of your changing gums. If you have not had a reline done recently, it must be booked in before you consider doing your aerial leap.

At The Skydive

Once it is time to skydive, you need to make a judgement call before getting into the plane about whether you think your dentures are going to survive the freefall phase of the jump. Considering you will be moving through the air at least 193 kilometres per hour (120 miles per hour), that's a lot of wind force pushing against your face.

If your dentures are loose and you're not confident they will stay in your mouth, there are three things you can do to protect them before you even leave the ground:

1. Keep your mouth closed during the entire skydive. This is not always easy because of the previously mentioned wind force factor. Additionally, if you are being videotaped during the dive you want to smile for your friends and family. The problem is the minute you smile the force of the air could push your loose dentures out of your mouth.
2. Leave your dentures on the ground in their overnight case, and jump without them.
3. Put a piece of duct tape over your mouth while you dive. (Seriously though, this is not an option).

The best option for keeping your dentures in one piece before you go skydiving is to visit your dentist and make sure they are well fitted before you jump. That way you can smile for the video camera at 12,000 feet, rather than having to do the gummy granny wave knowing that you're going to have to replace your dentures once you float back to down to earth.