Dangers Of Eating Without Teeth

You can teach yourself to eat without your teeth (or their various replacements such as dentures or implant), especially if it soft food. You just need to learn how to manipulate your gums and jaws and you will soon be good at it. However, it is never advisable to eat without teeth. Here are some of the consequences of eating without teeth:

Gum Irritations and TMJ

Your gums are soft, which means even food that looks or seems soft may irritate them. Add this to the fact that you will need to work your jaws and gums pretty hard to chew food, even if you are eating soft food. This may irritate your gums and make them susceptible to bacterial attacks. Then there is also the issue of your jaws, which may develop temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain and its associated issues such as headaches, ear pain, muscle spasms, among other effects.

Gastrointestinal Problems

No matter how well you may chew your food without teeth (artificial or natural) it will not be as soft as food chewed with teeth. Unfortunately, inefficient chewing interferes with digestion which actually starts in the mouth and proceeds to the digestive tract.

Swallowing unchewed food makes it difficult for the enzymes and other digestive secretions to work on it. Here are two of the major consequences of indigestion:

• Your body doesn't absorb the nutrients it needs and you become malnourished; this also reduces the strength of your body's immunity
• You are likely to suffer stomach upsets when bacteria starts to feast on the undigested food

Weakening of the Jawbone

Your jawbones need to be in constant exposure to pressure, and the pressure comes in the form of your upper and lower teeth being in contact. The feedback from this contact helps your jaws to regenerate and remain strong at all times. When you don't replace your teeth and start eating with your gums and jaws, the pressure will be lacking when you aren't eating. This leads to a weakening or deterioration of the jawbones. Such a jawbone becomes susceptible to fractures and may also lack adequate support should you decide to get dental implants later.

Therefore, don't make a mistake of eating without teeth even if you think the food is soft. Get your teeth replaced whether with permanent or temporary orthodontics.  All isn't lost, however, if you have already developed complications after eating without your teeth; your dentist can still help you minimize the damage. For more information, contact companies like Advanced Dentistry of St. Charles.