learning to eat with dentures: life can be delicious

One of the things you probably look forward to the most about getting dentures is enjoying foods you love, such as steak, corn on the cob, and gooey frozen deserts.

But new denture wearers can find the journey back to eating steak frustrating. Biting and chewing often feel different than before. And the fear of having your dentures slip during a meal can be enough to keep you away from restaurants altogether.

Before you turn down that invitation to a barbecue night, try these tips for eating with dentures. With a little practice and patience, you should be able to enjoy almost any food you like.

• Don't panic if you feel that food has "lost its flavour." Right now, your mind is receiving strong signals from your mouth about your dentures, which overpower the messages from your taste buds. After you get accustomed to dentures, your mind will find a better balance and your sense of taste will improve.
• As you adjust to new dentures, you might have trouble sensing hot foods and drinks. This is common. But be careful; you don't want to burn your mouth.
• Start with soft foods. Some good examples are eggs, fish, chopped meat, cooked vegetables, and puddings. As you gain more experience and confidence, try eating chewier foods, such as steak or celery.
• Ease back into eating the foods you love with small quantities cut into smaller pieces.
• Consider using a bit of denture adhesive to help your dentures feel more secure and give you a greater bite force. Denture adhesives such as Fixodent^® can also seal out irritating food particles that can become trapped between your dentures and gums.
• When you put food in your mouth, chew half of it on the back-left side of your mouth and the other half on the back-right side. This will even out the pressure on your dentures.