Millions of people have used traditional dentures to restore their smiles after tooth loss, which can give them the confidence they need to smile and socialize easily. While traditional dentures can vastly improve the chewing ability of a patient who has lost most or all their teeth, they cannot completely restore their biting force. Here’s how anchoring your dentures with dental implants can maximize your chewing strength so you can enjoy the diverse diet the body needs to stay healthy and strong.
Chewing with Traditional Dentures
Traditional dentures restore about twenty percent of your teeth’s natural chewing force, which can make a huge difference for a patient’s diet. However, many nutritious foods such as crunchy nuts, fibrous steaks, and snappy raw fruits and veggies have textures that are too robust for traditional dentures to handle. This makes many people who wear these appliances need to forgo many healthy foods, and studies show that those who wear dentures have higher rates of malnutrition than those with all their real teeth.
How Can Implant Dentures Help?
Dental implants are small titanium posts designed to be surgically placed into the jawbone where they fuse with the surrounding bone tissue through the natural process of osseointegration. This creates a superior hold that allows restorative appliances to be anchored more securely, preventing them from sliding about the mouth during speech or chewing. Implant dentures restore about eighty percent of your natural chewing power, meaning that you should be able to handle nuts, steaks, and raw fruits and veggies without any problems while wearing them.
Other Benefits of Implant Dentures
After a tooth is lost, the part of the jawbone that supported it begins to atrophy and recede due to a lack of exercise. When many teeth are missing, the jawbone will shrink even faster, giving the mouth a sunken appearance and changing the way the gums are shaped, making it necessary for traditional dentures to be replaced every few years.
Since dental implants act like the roots of your natural teeth, they can restore the exercise the jaw gets from the chewing process, preventing or potentially reversing its atrophy. Implant dentures also last much longer than traditional dentures, which can potentially save a patient thousands of dollars over the decades.
Securing your dentures with dental implants can improve your diet and enhance your quality of life in many other ways. Consulting with your dentist can help you determine if implant dentures are the best way to replace your lost teeth.
About the Author
Dr. Joseph Hickey earned his dental degree at the Indiana University School of Dentistry in 2007 before completing Heartland’s Aesthetic Continuum. He has also completed a year-long residency with the Academy of Straight Wire and Functional Orthodontics in 2016 and has pursued state-of-the-art training with the Implant Dentistry Continuum. His office in Granger offers general, restorative, cosmetic, and emergency dentistry as well as dental implant services. To learn more about implant dentures, contact his office online or dial (574) 277-4235.