You may feel confident showing off your smile day-to-day with your dentures. They are a tried-and-true solution to replacing missing teeth, giving you a grin you love while helping you enjoy some foods a bit easier.
However, as reliable and effective as this prosthetic is, it doesn’t fully give you your bite back. This may not allow you to get the nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. Here’s what you need to know, and if there’s anything you can do about it.
So, How Can Dentures Impact My Nutrition?
As was mentioned above, an issue that denture wearers often face is that they don’t regain much of their original bite force. A full prosthetic offers about 20% to 25% back, while partials give you less, 15% to 20%. You may not be able to bite and chew through foods you used to before. It’s more likely you’ll swallow bigger chunks, which are harder to break down into vitamins and minerals in your stomach.
With this, recent studies have found that those who have had dentures for two years or longer often generally have lower nutrition compared to their health before. Not only that, but the fit of this prosthetic also changes over time. You may have slippage, making it even more difficult to have a balanced diet.
Will This Affect My Health?
To make a long story short, dentures can have an impact on your overall health. When you don’t give your body the nutrients it needs, you may start to feel some symptoms because of it. More usual ones include fatigue and a higher risk of depression or anxiety. General weakness, swollen tongue, or cracked lips can also happen if you are low on iron.
How Can I Get the Nutrition I Deserve?
That being said, there are a couple of ways you can make eating with dentures comfortable and nutritious. Here are some tips you can follow:
- Chew with both sides of your mouth evenly. This may be tough to do at first, but the conscious effort can be beneficial.
- Sit down and don’t rush through your meals.
- Cut foods into smaller, bite-sized pieces.
- Make sure you drink something to help with chewing and swallowing.
- Avoid tough, sticky, and chewy foods as they can be harder to get through.
Not only that, but you can consider attaching your dentures to dental implants. These are posts that are placed and fused to your jawbone, which help hold your prosthetic in place. It’ll be much more stable as they use your jaw as a foundation, so you can get up to 90% of your original bite back!
You can talk to your dentist about this option to learn more, but consider following the tips above in the meantime; that way, you can give your body the nutrients it needs while enjoying your full smile.
About the Practice
At Peabody Smile Design, you benefit from a team of skilled dentists who look after you and your oral health. We are happy to help the local community rebuild their grins with reliable treatments like dentures, dental implants, or both. By ensuring your results are customized to you, you can trust that your prosthetic will look and feel comfortable in the end. If your dentures slip as you eat, schedule an appointment or call our office at (978) 278-5478.