How to Eat With Immediate Dentures
Immediate dentures are those that are fitted and made prior to the extraction of the teeth and placed directly into a patient's mouth after the extraction, so the patient won't have to go toothless while conventional dentures are made. An added benefit is that adjusting the immediate dentures as the mouth heals often eliminates the need for conventional dentures. Wearing dentures, whether immediate or conventional, can pose certain challenges to first-time wearers who aren't accustomed to the way they feel in the mouth, including speaking clearly and chewing food.
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Instructions
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Eating With Dentures
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Start with manageable food textures, advises the American Dental Association. Soft foods such as eggs, fish, cooked vegetables and chopped meats are good choices when learning to eat with immediate dentures. At the beginning, even soft foods should be cut into bite-size pieces.
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Chew on both sides of the mouth at the same time, and don't bite into food with your front teeth, which can cause dentures to dislodge.
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Add other food textures back into your diet slowly as you become more acclimated to eating with dentures. Cut more challenging foods (such as steak) into small pieces and continue to chew on both sides of the mouth, advises the ADA.
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Give yourself six to eight weeks to learn how to eat with immediate dentures. The Denturist Association of British Columbia notes this is how long it will take you to train your tongue, lips and facial muscles to keep dentures in place during a meal.
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Tips & Warnings
Cleaning dentures every day is important to prevent staining, plaque build-up and denture "odor" (see Resources).
Exercise caution when eating hot foods, hard foods and food with sharp bones or shells.
