When you replace your teeth with dentures, you are making a great step in the right direction towards improving your overall health. Dentures can help you speak clearly, chew properly, slow jawbone degradation, and smile with confidence. But despite their many benefits, dentures still do not have some of the perks you can expect from dental implants or your natural teeth, such as the ability to eat a variety of nutritious foods.
Bite Force
While chewing with dentures is certainly easier than chewing food with no teeth at all, when you chew with dentures, your bite force is dramatically diminished. In fact, your dentures can reduce it by up to 70 percent! This makes chewing certain foods very difficult, meaning you may be forced to skip out on some of the healthy fares you’re used to eating. If you can’t eat lean meats, crunchy fruits and vegetables, or heart-healthy foods like seeds and nuts, this in turn can cause dangerous malnutrition.
Bone Degradation
When you are missing teeth, your jawbone begins to deteriorate. This is because without the stimulation from the tooth’s roots that occurs during chewing, the jawbone has no purpose, and begins to degrade. This can cause you to lose any remaining natural teeth, as well as cause your face to sag and appear sunken. With time, this degradation can make it difficult to one day get dental implants and could result in the need for a bone graft procedure or a sinus lift. These conditions can make it even more difficult to get adequate nutrition, causing a sort of domino effect that endangers your oral and overall health.
Nutrition Solutions
If you are concerned about getting adequate nutrition while wearing dentures, you may want to consider implant dentures. Implant dentures are a hybrid between traditional dentures and dental implants, only instead of each tooth having its own dedicated implant, they secure to the jaw via several posts that hold the entire denture into place as one unit.
While they still do not provide the same biteforce as dental implants, they still can provide dramatically more force than dentures alone, all without the cost of a full set of dental implants.
If you are concerned about your nutrition and would like to eat more of the foods you used to enjoy with your natural teeth, speak to your dentist about implant dentures today.
About Dr. Cocco
Dr. Dana H. Cocco believes in having an open dialogue with each of her patients. That ability makes it easier for her to help them advocate for themselves and their care. Dr. Cocco is a strong believer in continuing education and is a member of such prestigious organizations as the Michigan Dental Association, the American Dental Association, the American Association for Women Dentists, and the Academy of General Dentistry.
To schedule an appointment, please visit our website or call us at 734-668-8636.