New denture wearers need to be very careful that they don’t hurt themselves or their new dentures with the food that they eat.
You can get back on to solid foods reasonably quickly, mind you, but before you eat solid food you will want to follow our tips closely.
Meal Planning For New Denture Wearers
Start With Very Soft Foods
Seriously, we’re talking about the softest foods that you can find. When you have new dentures, your gums will have to get comfortable with the idea of chewing and biting all over again.
The kind of things you should be eating at this point are fairly close to a liquid diet or you risk severe gum irritation:
- Mashed potatoes
- Mashed vegetables
- Vegetable soup, soft cheeses
- Liquefied food
- Juice
- Yogurt
- Soft pudddings
- Broth
You should chew food slowly if it requires chewing and avoid excessive chewing too. Want you want is to chew food evenly but not force it into submission, chew slowly but with no extra effort over normal.
You may find your sense of taste is a bit different – this is normal, your taste will return over time.
Monitor The Temperature Closely
One thing you really want to watch out for at this stage is hot liquids, do not hold hot liquids in your moth for longer periods of time.
Dentures make your mouth insulated and you won’t feel the heat as easily as before but a hot liquid can still burn your mouth and leave you a bit sore.
Swallow Liquids Quickly
We need to reinforce this point, as holding liquids in your mouth is fine with natural teeth but with your new dentures it can loosen the bottom plates and that will be unpleasant.
Stay Away From Spicy
It doesn’t meatter how fast you swallow food – it is a very bad idea to start with spicy foods of any kind. If you have any sores in your mouth, spices will irritate them and cause you pain.
Transition To Solid Foods Again Slowly
OK, now a few basic tips for getting back to eating solid food and maybe even a crisp apple or a steak eventually.
Sit Down And Eat Slowly
The more slowly you eat, the better and if you sit down, it will prevent you from rushing your meals.
Cut Things Up Small
It is easier to chew meats and other things if you reintroduce normal foods in tiny pieces.
One benefit of this approach is that you can find you lose weight if you chew slowly.
Use Both Sides Of Your Mouth
When you make your food move throughout your whole mouth and spread it out evenly, your dentures should remain stable.
If your dentures feel loose, then it’s entirely possible that the foods you are eating are not being properly distributed around your mouth.
If you slow down and pay attention to the way you eat, you should find that you can put a stop to this.
There are no foods denture wearers can’t eat, it’s just a question of geting the balance right in your mouth.
Use Liquids To Stop Things Sticking
One thing everyone should do when eating with dentures is drink lots of water, firstly, this helps the dentures stick where they should be in your mouth.
And secondly, it helps to clear sticky foods from the dentures which makes all your food easier to swallow and to chew.
Avoid The Worst Denture Foods
There are a whole bunch of foods that are a real challenge to eat with dentures and they’re best avoided completely for a few weeks until you get used to eating with your new dentures in.
Once you’re more experienced youc can go from easy to eat dishes to slow cooked meats, sticky and gummy foods, etc. but for now try to aim for things that are very simple to chew and swallow.
We’d also note that you should pay attention to the denture adhesive that you choose too. If you use a glue style adhesive, you’ll find that eating is much easier, but the downside is that it makes it much harder to clean the dentures each night.
Seals and powders, on the other hand, are much easier to clean off but they offer less stability in the mouth and that can mean a bit of pain in the early days of learning to eat with dentures.
Final Thoughts On Good Food For Denture Wearers
Getting used to new dentures takes a bit of time and it really is important to build up to eating as you used to do.
You may also appreciate our guide to the worst foods to eat when wearing dentures and our guide to the best meal delivery services for seniors (you can then get them to tailor the good to your needs).
And if you’re looking to give your health a boost, why not take a look at the best and worst multivitamins for seniors as well as our guide to Medicare vs. Medicaid too?