Eating with Your New Dentures: What You Need to Know
If you're about to receive your first set of dentures, your mind might be drifting towards culinary matters. Of course, the aesthetics of dentures are extremely important. You will be able to laugh and smile with a newfound confidence, but what about eating? The ability to eat with ease is certainly just as important as the aesthetic quality of new dentures. You might think that your dentures will allow you to eat in the same manner as you did with your natural teeth, but this is not quite the case. So when it comes to eating with your new dentures, what are some of the things you need to think about?
Bite Force
Some animals have an impressive amount of bite force. Saltwater crocodiles have a bite force of around 3492 kg. An adult human has a bite force of around 90 kg. This drops by around 75% when you wear dentures. Your bite force is greatly diminished, and it's a question of getting used to this and amending your eating habits accordingly.
Slow and Steady
Your dentures will allow you to eat things that were previously difficult (or impossible), such as a steak or corn on the cob, but to bite in the way that you would with natural teeth can dislodge your dentures. Successfully eating harder foods will be a matter of taking small, delicate bites and realising that you will need far more time to finish eating the item. At least this allows you to savour the taste!
Adhesives
Denture adhesives can give some assistance in keeping your false teeth attached to your gums, but they do not increase your bite force. There is also some trial and error, so you will need to test how strongly you can bite without troubling your dentures.
Nonfood Items
You should never use natural teeth or dentures to open anything such as a packet or a bottle. Natural teeth can very easily become damaged in this way, and while dentures are less likely to become damaged, they can become loose or even fall out. You will quickly become used to dentures and they will feel entirely natural in your mouth, but it's important to remember that they are detachable and are designed as such.
So while your dentures will allow you to eat things that were previously off-limits, you need to remember that you will need to consume them slowly and carefully and that they are very different from natural teeth. You will quickly get used to it. In the meantime, keep the previously mentioned facts in mind.
