Dentures can be the perfect Hail Mary for people who have lost most of their teeth and are looking for an easy way to restore their chewing and eating capabilities. But replacing your chompers with a set of artificial teeth is more than just that. It is also essential to know foods to eat and avoid after getting dentures.
Adjusting what to eat and how to eat is probably one of the biggest hurdles denture-wearers must overcome. For inexperienced wearers, dentures tend to slip around easily. The area surrounding dentures is also prone to suffer from food deposits.
Dentures allow you to flash a beautiful smile, but it might take a while to get back to your usual eating routine. In light of the uncertainties regarding foods to eat and avoid after getting dentures, we are here to give you our list of the best and worst foods that you can consume.
Keep reading to find out more!
Adjustment Curves With New Dentures
The longer you have missing teeth, the longer it will take for you to adjust to your new set of dentures. These prosthetic teeth might not feel normal and natural straightaway. You might need to overcome some adjustment curves before you can make full use of them.
Coordination Issues
New dentures are like any other part of your body that is added on artificially. Just like a prosthetic limb, these prosthetic teeth take some time to settle down in your oral cavity. In fact, if you have been missing teeth for a long time, you might feel super strange at having a full set of teeth in your mouth. That is why it is extra important to be careful about foods to eat and avoid after getting dentures.
As a new denture user, you may salivate more than usual, bite your cheeks often, and even experience a gag reflex. But all of this is totally normal and goes away once you have adjusted to your dentures.
Gum Sensitivity
Dentures literally anchor themselves to your gums. This might cause some irritation to your gum tissue as they are not naturally built to support acrylic resin bases.
Chewing right after getting your dentures might feel a little painful. You will likely experience some abrasion and rawness on your gum tissue. It is highly recommended that you wait to adjust to your dentures before eating solid foods.
What is the Best Food to Eat After Getting Dentures?
As a new denture wearer, you will need to be careful of what you consume. Dentures tend to slip or break when you eat extremely hard or crunchy foods.
Here is our list of the top 6 foods to eat after getting dentures.
Pressure-Cooked Meats
Everyone knows that eating protein is crucial to your health, but that can get a bit difficult with dentures. There is a neat trick to that, however. You just have to cook your meat right to enjoy it.
Slow-cook your ground meats or use a pressure cooker to soften up the meat sufficiently. This will make them easier to eat while retaining their flavor.
Steamed & Mashed Vegetables
Fresh vegetables are quite crunchy and tough. That can make them difficult to chew on when wearing dentures.
You can steam vegetables like carrots, zucchini, sweet potatoes, spinach, and broccoli. Steaming your vegetables can make them soft while maintaining their antioxidant levels. You can even mash up your carrots and potatoes for a different chewing texture.
Soft Fruits & Smoothies
Eating ripe and soft fruit with dentures is easy, but why forego the crunchy yet delicious fruits?
You can just blend up all your favorite fruits to make healthy smoothies. Bonus tip: you can also play around with some green smoothies, which is a great way to broaden your intake of healthy vegetables.
Beans & Lentils
Beans, chickpeas, and lentils are fantastic sources of protein. You can prepare them in a pressure cooker or soften them in water before cooking. Beans and lentils are especially important in your diet if you are a vegetarian or vegan.
Soft, Whole-Grain Bread
Seeded bread containing whole seeds can lead to stuck-up seeds in between your dentures and the space surrounding time. You can choose a soft, whole-grain bread that has the seeds baked in for dipping into your food items.
Melt-in-Your-Mouth Chocolate
If you have a sweet tooth and are wondering what sweet food to eat after getting dentures, then melt-in-your-mouth chocolate is the perfect alternative. Dark chocolate works perfectly for this purpose and provides numerous other benefits.
What is the Worst Food to Eat After Getting Dentures?
Here is a list of some foods dentists warn against consuming immediately after getting dentures.
Hard Foods
Hard foods, such as popcorn and different kinds of nuts, are extremely tough in texture and can wreak havoc on your dentures. Avoid food with seeds. Stay away from hard and raw vegetables and fruits like carrots, apples, and corn-on-the-cob.
The chewing techniques required to eat and digest such food properly do not sit well with any kind of dentures. Best to stay away from them.
Tough Meats
Steaks, ribs, chops, and other tough meats can put a lot of stress on your dentures and the gum tissue supporting them. Such foods can make your gums sore, rendering your dentures uncomfortable.
Sticky Foods
Sticky foods like caramels, lollies, toffees, marshmallows, and peanut butter can lead to the dislodgment of your dentures. Removing the leftover bits of these sticky foods from your dentures also gets pretty tricky, making your oral cavity vulnerable to infection and diseases.
Staining Foods & Drinks
Every dentist recommends a new denture user to stay away from staining liquids and foods. This is because foods and drinks that stain can deteriorate the condition and look of your dentures very quickly. So steer clear of red wine, coffee, tea, dark sauces, and berries.
Tips on How to Eat with Dentures
Your dentist will recommend that you wait for at least three to four weeks before resuming your normal diet. Until then, we have got some tips for you that can help you eat with your dentures better.
While Adjusting to Your Dentures
During the first few days of wearing dentures, you can follow the tips below to help you adjust to your new set of teeth and help you understand what foods to eat after getting dentures and how.
Begin with a mechanical diet: This includes all food that has mechanically been made easier to eat. Pureed, ground, blended, and minced food is ideal for denture users.
Check your food’s temperature: It gets a little hard to judge what the temperature of your food is while wearing dentures. Check the temperature of your food by placing the spoon in your mouth before putting it in.
Avoid spicy foods: Your gums will likely be sore during those first few weeks of wearing dentures. It is best to avoid spicy foods as they can sting and burn your sore gums.
While Going Back to Your Normal Diet
As mentioned earlier, it will take a couple of weeks to return to your normal eating routine. Even when you have adjusted to your new set of teeth, it is important to be careful and vigilant about what foods to eat after getting dentures.
Eat in small pieces: Make sure to cut your food into smaller pieces to help you chew more easily.
Sit while you eat: Rushing through a meal while you’re on your feet will only make you gulp it down, which can be bad for you.
Drink with your meals: Eat your bread with liquids to help you eat them more easily.
Chew with both sides of your mouth: Distribute the food evenly around your mouth and chew evenly on both sides. This will help keep your dentures in place while you’re eating.
After Healing
Once your oral cavity has healed and you have successfully adjusted to your dentures, you can eat almost anything you wish to. As a denture user, however, there will always be some food that will be too difficult to eat and chew.
Consult your dentist about consuming the following items:
- Corn on the cob
- Chewing gum
- Crunchy fruits
- Crackers
- Crusty bread
- Popcorn
- Crunchy peanut butter
- Raw vegetables
- Tough, stringy meats
- Sticky candy
- Whole nuts
Takeaway
Adjusting to new dentures takes some time, but knowing foods to eat and avoid after getting dentures can help you a lot. Our recommendations on how to adjust to your dentures and what diet to follow can help you get acclimated to this new contraption. Caring for your dentures by minding the foods you eat and keeping them in good condition can also help them last longer.
Following a healthy eating routine requires you to chew your food correctly, which isn’t easy when you have just started using dentures. But with a bit of resilience, time, and patience, you should be able to go back to chewing and eating your food normally.
You can contact University Ave Dental to learn more about how to use and adjust your dentures.
Schedule your appointment with University Ave Dental today and make your denture-using journey easier.