Nutrition

Dental prostheses and nutrition

Here are some tips to guide you in your food choices after you have had a dental prosthesis placed. These are general and not strict categories, since within a given food category, there will be products with varying degrees of hardness. These tips should serve as guidelines for your food choices. The descriptions of food textures are consistent with those presented in the 2010 version of the chapter "Régime de textures adaptées pour les troubles de la déglutition" (Diet of Textures Adapted for Swallowing Disorders) in the Manuel de nutrition clinique (Handbook of Clinical Nutrition) of the Ordre professionnel des diététistes du Québec. The tables presented here are adapted from that chapter. For additional information and personalized nutritional advice, consulting a dietitian is recommended.

Suggested diet following the placement of dental implants:

For a period of two weeks, patients are advised to eat foods that require the least chewing possible (foods with a purée texture) to minimize pressure on the implants. The goal of eating soft-textured food is to allow the implants to stabilize while maintaining the most nutritious diet possible.

Early in the third week, it is recommended to gradually increase the pressure that is placed on the dental implants. At this stage, it's important to begin eating foods that can be crushed with the tongue against the palate (food with a minced texture).

After about two months, light chewing will allow for the introduction of soft foods (food with a soft texture).

After about three months, a return to foods with normal textures should be considered. At that time, no food should be eliminated from the diet because it has a hard texture. However, some hard foods like nuts, pie crusts and certain meats should be consumed in moderation.

Depending on the type of dental prosthesis you've had placed, adapted nutritional advice may be proposed to you by a registered dietitian.

Jani Cheseaux, Dt.P., M.Sc.
Registered Professional Dietitian
Member of the Ordre professionnel des diététistes du Québec
80 Saint-Laurent Street West, Suite 100
Longueuil, J4H 1L8
514-991-6242

Purée texture

This is not a balanced diet and should not be followed for long periods of time without the advice of a dietitian in order to avoid nutritional deficiencies.

Description: The main characteristic of this diet is that it has no lumps or solid bits. Chewable pieces should not exceed 0.5 mm in size. This texture allows food to be swallowed without chewing and is recommended for centric denture wearers (dentures).

Food groups	Recommended	Not recommended
Dairy products and substitutes	Smooth dairy products (no solid bits) Unripened, quark and mashed cottage cheese Smooth pudding Smooth yogurt (without fruit, cereals, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.)	Dairy products with nuts, dried fruit or caramel Soft, spreadable cheese, sliced and firm Pudding containing solid bits
Fruit	Fruit purées, stewed fruit, sorbet	Other fruit
Vegetables	Vegetable purées Mashed potatoes, slightly sticky (add a little liquid or fat, depending ont he desired texture)	Other vegetables Cream-style corn Potatoes, other than mashed
Meat and meat substitutes	Puréed meat, poultry and fish without solid bits Humus and other legume purées	Other meats, poultry and fish All peanut butters and nut butters
Grains and cereals	Muffins or white cake, without frosting, mixed with milk, cream, yogurt or pudding Oatmeal purée Puréed pasta	Regular oatmeal Other cereals Bread and other grain products

Sample purée menu:

Breakfast: Oatmeal purée with powdered sugar, a glass of milk, a glass of juice, applesauce.

Lunch: 1 cup of cream of carrot soup, ½ cup of mashed potatoes, slightly sticky (add milk, if necessary), 3-4 oz. of puréed chicken, ½ cup zucchini purée.

Supper: 1 cup of puréed pasta with ½ cup of puréed meat sauce, ½ cup of mixed vegetable purée, strawberry-flavoured yogurt.

Minced textures

This is not a balanced diet and should not be followed for long periods of time without the advice of a dietitian in order to avoid nutritional deficiencies.

Description: This diet includes foods with lumps or solid bits that do not exceed 5 mm in size. It requires a little preparation before swallowing. However, you should be able to crush minced food with the tongue against the palate. This diet is recommended for centric and semi-precision denture wearers.

Food groups	Recommended	Not recommended
Dairy products and substitutes	Ice cream, frozen yogurt and ice milk, without solid bits Unripened, quark and cottage cheese, grated ricotta and parmesan Pudding without solid bits Smooth yogurt (without fruit, cereals, etc.), yogurt with pieces of fruit that are 5 mm and less in size	Dairy products with pieces of chocolate, caramel, dried fruit and cereals Sliced or firm cheese Pudding with solid bits Yogurt with pieces of fruit 5 mm in size
Fruit	Ripe banana, canned fruit (drained and chopped), fresh ripe fruit (chopped) Flavoured gelatin (Jell-O), fruit purée, stewed fruit	Fresh or canned fruit, not chopped
Vegetables	Vegetables purées et mousses Well-cooked vegetables, chopped Cream-style corn Potatoes, boiled and mashed, with an added fat (e.g. butter), cream or sauce	Other raw and cooked vegetables Other corn Other potatoes
Meat and meat substitutes	Plain omelet, soufflé, scrambled eggs Pâté with small lumps Minced fish or canned tuna, crumbled Ground meat served with a sauce or both Legumes mashed with a fork (humus style)	Other eggs All peanut butters and nut butters Meat and fish, not chopped Other legumes
Grains and cereals	Muffins or white cake, without frosting or nuts, mixed with milk, yogurt, pudding or fuit purée (or with all ingrdients puréed together) Small (less than 5 mm) pasta, well-cooked, with smooth sauce Oatmeal or certain cold cereals, softened in milk	Crunchy cold cereals Bread Whole wheat pasta or larger-sized pasta Rice, barley, couscous Crackers and dry biscuits

Sample minced menu:

Breakfast: store-bought yogurt mixed with pieces of fruit less than 5 mm in size, oatmeal, coffee with milk, orange juice.

Lunch: avocado mousse, plain omelet, mashed potatoes, cream-style corn

Supper: Pasta salad, tuna and avocado (canned tuna, crumbled; small-sized pasta, well-cooked; ripe avocado in cubes), dressing with powdered black pepper, tapioca.

Soft texture

This texture makes it easy to have a balanced diet. Food introduced into this category encourages light chewing, compared with the minced textured foods. This texture is recommended for precision denture wearers.

Food groups	Recommended	Not recommended
Dairy products and substitutes	Ice cream, frozen yogurt and ice milk, without solid bits Unripened and cottage cheese, grated ricotta and parmesan Pudding Smooth yogurt with recommended fruit (see below)	Ice cream, frozen yogurt and ice milk with nuts, dried fruit or caramel Hard chesse Yogurt with fresh fruit, chocolate chips, nuts and certain store-bought cereals
Fruit	Canned fruit, drained Banana Ripe fresh fruit, peeled (mango, kiwi, small berries, watermelon) Puréed or stewed fruit	Canned pineapple Tropical fruit salad Other fresh fruit (pears and apples with skin, grapes and citrus fruit) Dried fruit
Vegetables	Puréed vegetables Well-cooked vegetables Cream-style corn Mashed and boiled potatoes	Snow peas Kernel corn or corn on the cob Crunchy vegetables Lettuce Crudités (sliced or whole raw vegetables)
Meat and meat substitutes	Eggs, all kind Cretons, meat pâtés Lentils Canned legumes Boneless fish, fresh or canned, poached or baked white fish, canned tuna, crumbled Chopped meat	All peanut butters and nut butters Nuts and other grains Grilled fish Other meat
Grains and cereals	Muffins or white cake, without frosting, mixed with milk, yogurt, or fruit purée (or with all ingredients puréed together) Small (less than 5 mm) pasta, well-cooked, with smooth sauce Oatmeal, crepes Cold cereals, softened in milk Risotto, white rice, couscous, barley Sliced bread without seeds or nuts Soda crackers	Cold cereals withs nuts or dried fruit Chesse-topped pasta Whole wheat pasta or large pasta Wild rice, brown rice Crackers with seeds Waffles Puff pastries

Sample soft menu:

Breakfast: Sliced bread without seeds or nuts, butter, cherry jelly, sliced cheese, coffee with milk.

Lunch: Rare beef fillet (cut into small pieces before chewing) with a cream sauce, boiled potato, Italian-style mixed vegetables and a homemade blueberry muffin.

Supper: Scrambled eggs, zucchini risotto and store-bought fruit yogurt.

For wearers of implant-retained prostheses, food textures are not problematic. You can eat whatever you want. Subsequently, you will want to test various foods according to your own personal dietary habits, and as tolerated.

Source :

Germain I, Lamarche J (authors), Arsenault J, Clément M-F, Dufresne T, Corbeil L (collaborators), Paradis G (scientific revision), "Régime de textures adaptées pour les troubles de la déglutition" (Diet of Textures Adapted for Swallowing Disorders) in Chagnon Decelles D, Daignault Gélinas M, Lavallée Côté L et al, Manuel de nutrition clinique (Handbook of Clinical Nutrition), online document, Montréal, Ordre professionnel des diététistes du Québec, 2010, www.opdq.org.