Getting used to your dentures

A more youthful appearance, carefree laughing, and effortless eating: dentures certainly have many decisive life-improving advantages for you – once you've gotten used to them. Naturally it will take some time and patience, but ultimately you'll feel perfectly comfortable with them. To help you get used to them as quickly as possible, we have some tips and advice for you.

It's normal that you'll be afraid of speaking and eating at the start – after all you're wearing something strange in your mouth.The only important thing now is to learn to overcome this feeling of having something foreign in your mouth as quickly as possible. Most important is to wear your dentures all the time. Removing them when you go to bed will make it more difficult to get used to them. Please clean your dentures thoroughly before going to bed and wear them even when you're asleep. This will strengthen your mucosa, and your gums and jaws will continue to move and remain active.

Don't worry: you'll make it! Millions of other people have succeeded too! And always remember that no one around you will notice that you're wearing dentures. Simply behave completely normally and bear in mind that your new teeth give you a younger and better appearance.

Lots of patients worry about how well they will be able to eat and drink when wearing their dentures. Are my “new teeth” sitting right, can I bite into solid food, or would it be better for me to eat softer varieties of food?
These questions depend on several factors. The material used for the dentures is important, and whether you have a partial or full set of dentures. Your personal acceptance towards your dentures isn’t unimportant either. Those who resist their dentures at the mental level will be more likely to have to battle with problems.

In the initial phase with a set of dentures, your chewing may feel unusual, and it is possible that discomfort may arise. It is possible that you will experience flavours as limited or different, because your taste buds in your palate are partially covered by the palatal plate of your dentures. After a while, your sense of taste will adapt to the new situation, however, and your favourite food will be certain to taste just as good as it always has.

8 tips for eating with your dentures in the initial period:

• When eating, make sure that you use your jaw on an equal basis – that means, don’t chew on just one side of your mouth. This way, your dentures will be subjected to the same degree of pressure and they won’t slip out of place.
• When you bite into food, you should use your canines and front molars.
• Go carefully with hot food and drinks. A maxillary set of dentures covers some of the palate, which means that you may only feel food or drinks that are hot in your throat first.
• In the initial period, you should avoid food like bread buns and apples as well as things like boiled sweets.
• Meals that are very cold or very spicy aren’t highly recommended either.
• You should instead opt for food which is soft and easy to chew on and that doesn’t irritate the sensitive oral mucosa.
• It is frequently the case that remnants of food will get stuck under your dentures. For this reason, you should not eat any hard foods such as nuts, seeds or raw vegetables, especially when you first begin wearing your dentures.
• Right from the start, be sure to clean your dentures thoroughly. This will act to prevent pressure points and sources of irritation.

In the beginning, the unfamiliar new item in your oral cavity means that you may experience some difficulties with speaking. Oral articulation is actually a complex interplay between several muscles that have adapted to each other optimally over the course of the years. It is naturally the case that these movements will now have to adjust to the new situation with your dentures. Don’t worry, however, as our vocal apparatus can adapt to new situations at any age.

At the start in particular, sibilants, and letters such as “p” “f” and “v” can present a challenge. This is another case in which the old motto of “practise makes perfect” holds true! The more frequently that you speak or practise speaking when wearing your dentures, the sooner you will be able to express yourself clearly again. Read out articles from the newspaper loudly, and get friends and family members to act as your audience. Soon enough, you will then be able to speak as fluently and understandably as you always have.

For some people who wear dentures, their own voice may initially sound a little different. This is because of the changed transfer of sounds in the jawbone and the skull. Your voice will not sound different to other people, however. Crunching or clicking sounds can also occur if you talk when wearing dentures – don’t worry, sounds like these frequently go unheard by other people.

7 tips for speaking when wearing dentures:

• Before you start to talk, biting together firmly with your teeth is recommended. This ensures that your dentures will be in the correct position.
• Swallow once briefly before speaking, as during the familiarisation period with their dentures, some people suffer from increased salivation.
• If you would like to feel more secure, however, you can stand in front of the mirror and practise speaking. You will then see that for other people, everything seems perfectly normal.
• If you still lack confidence with your speaking, try speaking a little more slowly – this will allow your patterns of vocal and oral movement to become better established.
• Feel free to speak loudly with yourself or to read texts out loudly. This will help you to practise your pronunciation and alleviate anxieties surrounding difficult words.
• Ask somebody you know well for their honest opinion about how your pronunciation sounds, including specific words. This gives you a good chance to improve. 

It is naturally the case that in the case of problems, you can approach a speech therapist for support. In this respect, the best idea is to consult your dentist or family doctor.