According to the American College of Prosthodontics, around 40 million adults are missing all their teeth. This is a serious issue, as missing teeth can greatly impact your daily life in terms of speech, eating, and more! But dentures can provide a solution that allows you to talk, eat, and laugh again once more. However, recent research has shown that dentures might actually have a negative impact on your body’s overall nutrition! Keep reading to learn more about how they can potentially inhibit your body’s ability to absorb nutrients, and how supporting them with implants might be a viable solution to this problem.
Dentures And Chewing Force
Traditional dentures are held in place with an acrylic gum-colored adhesive material; they rest on the gums and obtain their functional support through their shape and how they cover the jawbones. The upper denture also uses suction to stay in place, while the lower denture requires muscle control. This is how your dentures can effectively look, move, and function like your missing natural teeth.
However, because dentures are removable and not naturally affixed to anything inside your mouth, they can easily become loose when you speak, eat, or move your jaw. This means the amount of chewing force your mouth can apply is severely limited and you can’t effectively bite, tear, or grind certain foods like chewy meats, crisp fruits and veggies, starchy items like bread and potatoes and more.
How Chewing Force Impacts Nutrition
Chewing is the first step of the digestive process. The physical force of crushing the food into smaller pieces, combined with the powerful digestive enzymes found in your saliva, helps your stomach to break everything down. However, studies show that chewing your food for a shorter period and swallowing larger particles actually impairs your body’s ability to absorb nutrients, which can lead to malnutrition. It’s also a choking hazard! This means that dentures negatively impact your nutrition through the reduction of your chewing force!
How Implant-Supported Dentures Can Help
Luckily, dental implants can provide a solution for dentures that greatly restores your chewing force! If you’re already familiar with dental implants, you know that they can completely rebuild your smile by replacing missing teeth and supporting your jawbone; they help your dentures out in a very similar way. They can provide a strong interlocking connection between your dentures and your jaws.
This setup yields several advantages; not only does it maintain your dentures in the correct position over your jawbones, but it also provides them with additional support and stability, which in turn restores your chewing force! This means that you’ll be back to fully chewing your food again and absorbing plenty of vitamins and nutrients.
Even though dentures are meant to help your smile, they can harm you by preventing your body from absorbing the nutrients it needs! Ask your dentist if implant-supported dentures are a viable solution for you.
About the Author
Dr. Natalya Ramsay received her DMD from the Oregon Health and Science University School of Dentistry and is a member of many professional organizations, including the American Academy of Facial Esthetics and the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. Her practice is proud to offer a wide range of services to patients and families in the McMinnville area including full, partial, and implant-supported dentures! If you’d like to schedule an appointment with Dr. Ramsay, feel free to reach out online or by phone: (503) 472-1402.