7 Tips for Eating with Your New Dentures
When you first get new dentures, you need to get accustomed to a lot of adjustments. While some people tend to struggle initially with difficulty speaking and only slowly regain their ability to enunciate words as clearly over time, this isn’t the most significant concern for most people.
Getting Over Anxiety About Eating with Dentures
Along with the need to adjust to dentures to speak clearly, the issue that most people are concerned with when they get dentures for the first time is how easily they will adjust to eating. While you should start with an understanding that eating with dentures takes some practice, it shouldn’t pose a problem in the long run.
Here are a few times to help you adjust and relieve you when you feel frustrated. It would be best if you also kept in mind that you’ll be able to eat easier and efficiently in the long run.
Be Mindful of the Need for Adjustments
If you have difficultly eating with your dentures, the problem will not likely be due solely to your inexperience. In such cases, the issue is almost always due to a more significant problem, such as the need for an adjustment so that your dentures fit more securely. One of the most significant benefits of working with our team is that you can enjoy free denture check-ups to ensure you always have the proper adjustments for your needs.
Tips for Eating with Dentures
Suppose you experience a significant problem when you attempt to eat with your dentures. In that case, you should immediately book an appointment to visit an expert at Koster Denture Clinic for assistance. Otherwise, we can discount the possibility that you are facing a more severe problem and instead assume that you are merely having trouble getting accustomed to eating with your dentures.
Otherwise, you may be waiting for some advice on how to best approach eating with your dentures before you start. In either case, the following tips for eating with dentures will be an enormous help:
Start with Soft Foods
If you start with only softer foods and gradually move to harder foods, you won’t have to worry as much about your ability to chew with your dentures. You also will be able to avoid any anxiety that might come with trying to eat harder foods while you’re still getting used to your new dentures. Try to stick to foods like
Soup
Stew
Curry
Smoothies
Pudding
Oatmeal or Cream of Wheat
Refried Beans and Soft Rice
Pate or Liverwurst
As you slowly get used to using your dentures, you’ll notice that you gain more control and will become more confident to try harder foods. Please don’t push yourself too hard too quickly; it isn’t a race.
Eat Slowly
While it can be challenging to remind yourself to slow down when you’re eating something delicious, doing so will help prevent any potential eating problems when you first get dentures. True to chew slowly and evenly on each side of your mouth simultaneously, which will help you to distribute pressure to both sides of your jaw rather than putting all the pressure on one side.
Try Eater Smaller Pieces of Food
Remember to cut your food into smaller pieces, so you aren’t biting into too much at once. Smaller pieces will require less chewing than larger ones, so they can help you to practice as you move from the softer foods to those with greater density. Cutting your food smaller will also help you to move to the foods you love the most sooner than you might manage otherwise.
Avoid Hard-to-Eat Foods
If you’ve ever worn braces or other orthodontic devices, you’ll already know that you don’t want to try eating hard toffee or candy apples on your first day. The same rule applies in your first month with dentures when you haven’t become accustomed to eating with dentures yet.
In fact, you may want to avoid foods like these altogether. Other tricky or sticky foods should be avoided initially and only attempted once you have more experience eating with your dentures.
Practice Proper Oral Hygiene
Even if you have had all of your natural teeth removed and are using a complete set of dentures, you need to keep your dentures clean to ensure that your gums and mouth stay healthy. It may seem counter-intuitive, but you need to continue brushing and flossing your false teeth like you always did with your natural teeth.
You should also continue to visit both the dentist and your team of experts at Koster Denture Clinic for regular check-ups to ensure your oral health is in excellent shape. If you don’t practice proper oral care, you could risk severe complications, such as gum disease.
Denture Adhesive will Help
Many types of dentures require an adhesive to help ensure that you maintain a secure fit. If your dentures are not secure, you will have difficulty learning to chew with them and may never be able to get more accustomed to eating with your dentures. Always use an adhesive to avoid this problem.
Give Your Mouth a Break
Learning to eat with your dentures can be hard work. While you may get frustrated at experiencing difficulty with something as familiar as eating, you may also find that your jaw becomes sore from being overworked. Remember to take breaks to give your mouth a rest. Initially, you may want to spread out smaller eating periods throughout the day rather than stick to three larger meals to help give yourself more breaks.
Eating and talking with your new dentures may seem challenging in the beginning, but you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can adjust to the difference. The best advice you can follow is to take it slow and to try to be patient. If you’re having issues with this or any other aspect of your new dentures, you can always contact our team for help.
If you are considering dentures, please visit Koster Denture Clinic for an assessment of what kind of help we can provide you, along with expert advice on your options. Call us today.