The Best and Worst Foods for Denture Wearers
While the degree of diet restriction you experience depends largely on the quality of your full/partial dentures, there are some foods that patients still experience some difficulty with when wearing replacement teeth.
Here are some of the foods denturists warn it’s best to avoid when wearing dentures and some great alternatives to ensure the longevity of both your dentures and your oral health:
Best Foods for Your False Teeth
Ripe fruits, cooked veggies & smoothies - Many fruits become soft when ripe. This includes bananas, mango's and tomatoes. You can also cook vegetables to get them soft for eating with dentures. Smoothies will allow the blender to do most of the work for your teeth while allowing you to reap all the health benefits.
Protein Rich Spreads - Some spreads can be thick and chewy. When wearing partial dentures, stick to protein-rich, thinner spreads such as hummus, tuna or egg salad to give flavor to toast, crackers and sandwiches.
Ground beef or pulled pork, fish - Eating meat with dentures can prove to be a significant challenge. To make it easier, find ways to cook beef/pork until it becomes softer and easier to eat. Fish is a great alternative for full/partial denture wearers as it is soft and easy to break down. At times, it may be necessary to cut your meat up into smaller pieces so that you are able to enjoy your meal without any challenges.
Soft chocolate - If you have a sweet tooth, chocolate is a great option for denture wearers. It has numerous health benefits and doesn’t require any chewing. Don’t like chocolate? Trying sucking on hard candy just never bite down on it!
Worst Foods for Dentures
Crunchy fruits & vegetables - With full/partial dentures, you may find it difficult to exert enough force to adequately bite and chew hard fruits and vegetables such as carrots, apples, celery or corn on the cob.
Peanut butter & other nut butters - Nut butters such as peanut or cashew butter can be very thick and difficult to chew. You may find that they cling to your dentures and, even if they don’t pull them off, they will be very difficult to clean off.
Steak/pork chops - Steak or pork chops can be extremely tough to chew and break down with dentures. In addition, the chewing techniques required to break the tough, fibrous protein don’t work well for dentures.
Hard candy - Candies such as toffees and brittle are chewy, sticky and hard. Not only can they stick to your dentures, they could break or dislodge them.
How to Eat With Your Full/Partial Dentures
Whether you are wearing full or partial dentures, it is important to discuss with your denturist the types of foods you can eat safely and how you should go about eating and drinking with your replacement teeth. Here are some helpful tips on eating with your dentures:
In the beginning, refrain from using your front teeth for biting.
Cut your food up into small pieces and try to chew on both sides of your mouth simultaneously
To practice eating with your dentures, try easy-to-chew soft foods before moving on to tougher meats and hard vegetables
To reduce any potential embarrassment, practice chewing your favorite foods at home first before you do it in public.
In most cases, new denture wearers have difficulty eating salads because lettuce doesn’t tear well with replacement teeth.