Tips for Eating with Your Brand New Dentures

If you are missing many of your teeth, dentures are a great way to replace them and restore your smile. However, they do take some getting used to. For the first few weeks, you may feel some discomfort with your new dentures. You may have some soreness while your mouth heals from the tooth extractions, and you will also make more saliva than usual. Here are a few tips for eating with your new dentures:

• Start with a liquid diet made up of purees and other soft foods. Your diet can include applesauce, yogurt, cooked cereals, soup, broth, chopped boiled eggs, and puddings.
• Be extra careful with hot liquids, as the insulating effect of the dentures can affect your ability to judge temperature correctly.
• Once you feel comfortable enough to eat solid foods, you should begin slowly, with softer foods cut into small pieces.
• When you eat, make sure the food is distributed evenly across your mouth to help stabilize your dentures.
• Be careful not to hold liquids in your mouth for too long, or they can cause your bottom dentures to loosen.
• Chew slowly and thoroughly to prevent choking. Dentures feel different than your regular teeth, and it can difficult to tell if food is chewed carefully enough to be swallowed.
• When you are eating fresh fruit, cut them into thin slices so that they are easy to bite and chew.
• Choose stewed or slow-cooked red meats over tough red meat, and opt for poultry, fish, eggs, and other softer proteins more often.
• Avoid very hard or sticky foods so that you do not loosen the denture adhesive.

If you are missing teeth, or your existing teeth are severely damaged, talk to our dentist about dentures in Chicago. You can book your appointment online today.