Mastication, or chewing, requires several parts of your head to work together in unison; your teeth, saliva, jaws, cheek and tongue muscles and even your nervous system all work in harmony in order to help you chew your food properly.
That’s why chewing is vital to your digestive health. It’s also important to understand the impact that dentures have on chewing.
What is the purpose of chewing?
Chewing is essentially the process of grinding food into smaller pieces. Logically, it could be assumed that its primary purpose is to make food easier to swallow. This statement isn’t entirely false but not entirely true either.
Obviously, your bites need to be small enough to be swallowed without pain. What’s more, chewing is also meant to help you digest your food. The smaller the bites, the easier the food can be digested, which leads to better digestive health.
The impact on both general and digestive health
There is a growing body of scientific evidence that shows the negative effects of improper chewing on a person’s digestive health. Indeed, badly chewed food can lead to various health problems such as acid reflux, bloating and bowel issues. Why? Because the stomach isn’t capable of completely digesting large pieces of food.
Proper chewing doesn’t only improve digestive health; taking the time to chew meals properly helps to significantly reduce hunger while minimizing the chances of developing an eating disorder.
What about the negative impacts? Apart from being called a slow eater, there really are none!
The impact of dentures
What about your dentures? Like it or not, dentures can greatly impact your mastication force. Some studies even go as far as to say that some dentures can reduce this force by 70% to 80%. With that in mind, it’s normal to be concerned about the repercussions that dentures can have on our digestive health!
Why do dentures weaken our ability to chew? Because it’s the stimulation of the teeth that allows the body to regenerate the jaw’s bone and muscle cells. Without that stimulation, bones and muscles lose volume, density and strength. Not to mention how painful ill-fitting dentures can be!
Potentially weaker and and painful, the reflex to reduce chewing to a minimum is quite natural. Yet it’s essential to suppress this reflex in order to avoid potential digestive health problems
How to improve chewing
Unfortunately, no magic formula can improve your chewing abilities and maintain your digestive health. You have to take your time during each meal. If you wear dentures and are having difficulty chewing, it’s important to discuss this with your denturist.
Are you having difficulty chewing? Do you think this is impacting your digestive health? Is it painful to chew? Discuss this with our team.
