Dentist Antioch Eating With Dentures

Antioch General Dentist Discusses Eating With Dentures

Many people who’ve lost teeth use dentures to fill in the missing gaps. Some of these patients will choose to eat without them for various reasons. While it might seem convenient and even easier, it can be a dangerous choice for your mouth and overall body. Here’s what you need to know about the risks of eating without dentures.
 
Oral Issues
 
Chewing without teeth causes the jaws and gums to work harder than they should. Chewing with natural teeth causes 200 to 250 pounds of force. Dentures have a force of about 50 pounds while chewing. While this isn’t as powerful as chewing with natural teeth, it is better than chewing with nothing. 
 
From working hard to chew, the gums and teeth will become irritated and sore. This occurs even with softer foods. You could be facing problems such as infected gums or TMJ as a result. 
Your jawbone is constantly changing as a result of pressure. When you don’t have the right amount of pressure on the gums, the jaw bone will weaken and become prone to fracturing. 
 
Digestive Issues
 
Your digestive system is a multi-organ chain of events where everything needs to work together for it to be in optimal condition. Starting with the mouth, you tend not to chew the food properly without teeth. This leads to more issues further in the digestive tract. 
 
These larger food pieces will not break down as they should and improper digestion takes place. You lose out on the nutrients from the food plus you can suffer from bacteria, flatulence and indigestion as a result. 
 
Saliva is also created while you chew and necessary to help digest food. Chewing is the signal that the digestive system should begin working. When you chew, the pancreas begins to produce enzymes to aid digestion further. 
 
What Should You Do?
 
As you can see, eating without teeth causes many concerns. Teeth are important to how everything operates. Some people choose to eat without dentures because they want to avoid embarrassment. Others choose not to get dentures in the first place due to budget constraints. Either way, there are solutions that will work for you. Be sure to visit with your Antioch general dentist and discuss the ways to keep your digestive system running at top pace.