The Surprising Link Between Bite Force and Patient Overall Health:

And why your patients need to know.

Patients with broken or missing teeth may intuitively understand that they can't eat what they want. But they may not connect poor oral health to their overall health.

❌ Patients with missing or broken teeth typically have severely reduced bite force.

✅ Successful implant or overdenture treatment can restore bite force to near-normal levels.

✅ Restored bite force means a patient can eat a varied, nutritious diet, improving not just their smile, but their whole-body health.

But how do you bring patients from awareness to case acceptance - and ultimately to better health?

Bite force measurements can give patients the missing data point they need, turning an abstract clinical recommendation into something they can see, understand, and act on.

What Is a Normal Human Bite Force?

Bite force is the amount of force the jaw can generate when chewing. In adults with a healthy, complete set of teeth, that force typically ranges between 500 and 700 newtons, enough to handle everything from a crisp apple to a juicy steak.

When teeth are missing, broken, or poorly supported, that force drops dramatically. And that drop has significant consequences for how well the body absorbs nutrients.

Chewing is the first step in digestion

When food isn't broken down properly in the mouth, the rest of the digestive system has to compensate – and often can't fully do so. Over time, this can lead to poor nutrient absorption, particularly of protein, fiber, and key vitamins and minerals.

A study published by Tokyo Medical and Dental University found that edentulous individuals have a lower intake of fruit, vegetables, fiber, and protein compared with their dentate counterparts - directly linked to their reduced ability to chew (Komagamine et al., 2016). A review published in Public Health Nutrition similarly found that people with fewer teeth had lower intakes of fiber, protein, fat, and several key micronutrients (Hung et al., 2005).

For patients who have addressed tooth loss with conventional removable dentures, some chewing ability is restored, but often not as much as they assume. A widely cited review in the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry found that most studies concur denture wearers retain only about one fifth to one quarter of the bite strength of natural dentition subjects (Michael et al., 1990). This usually translates into 100 to 250N of bite force using the InnobyteTM. Because dentures rest on soft gum tissue rather than anchored bone, they simply cannot handle the same load. These patients may adjust their diets over time, avoiding harder or tougher foods, defaulting to softer options, and gradually narrowing what they feel comfortable eating.

What Successful Treatment Can Restore

Dental implants and overdentures work on a fundamentally different principle to traditional dentures. Because implants are anchored directly into the jawbone, they transmit biting forces the way natural tooth roots do — creating a stable, load-bearing foundation.

Studies indicate that implant treatment meaningfully restores bite force. For example, a 2018 cross-group comparison found that patients with All-on-4 bridges in both jaws achieved mean bite forces that matched or exceeded fully dentate patients (Fürhauser et al., 2018). Additionally, prosthodontists and oral surgeons who measure bite force with InnobyteTM report significant increases in bite force before and after treatment with implants or implant-supported dentures.

See image 1

Image 1: At left, patient with traditional dentures - bite force of 61N and at right, after treatment with implant-supported overdentures - bite force of 541N

Where Innobyte Fits In

Measuring patient bite force is a powerful tool at every stage of patient care.

1. Identifying the need for treatment

Bite force measurements give clinicians an objective, quantifiable baseline. Rather than relying solely on patient-reported symptoms or visual assessment, a measured bite force reading can reveal functional deficits that might otherwise go unaddressed, and help identify patients who would benefit most from intervention.

2. Communicating the importance of treatment and increasing predictability

Patients respond to numbers. Showing a patient their measured bite force - and explaining what that means for their ability to eat a varied, nutritious diet - makes the case for treatment in a way that resonates far beyond a clinical recommendation. It turns an abstract concept into something concrete and personal.

3. Measuring the outcome and reducing complications

Perhaps most importantly, bite force measurements give clinicians a way to demonstrate success. Comparing pre- and post-treatment readings provides objective evidence of restored function. This is valuable for the patient, for clinical records, and for building a track record of outcomes over time.

Innobyte makes this measurement practical and accessible, so that bite force becomes a routine part of the patient conversation rather than a specialist metric.

Educational Waiting Room Video:

Download our waiting room video to show your patients the link between bite force and nutrition

Summary

Bite force is one of the most overlooked factors in the relationship between oral health and general health. For clinicians, measuring it creates opportunities to identify need, motivate patients, and prove results - at every stage of the treatment journey.

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References

• Komagamine Y, Kanazawa M, Iwaki M, Jo A, Suzuki H, Amagai N, Minakuchi S. Combined effect of new complete dentures and simple dietary advice on nutritional status in edentulous patients: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2016 Nov 9;17(1):539. doi: 10.1186/s13063-016-1664-y. PMID: 27829457; PMCID: PMC5103469.

• Hung HC, Colditz G, Joshipura KJ. The association between tooth loss and the self-reported intake of selected CVD-related nutrients and foods among US women. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 2005 Jun;33(3):167-73. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0528.2005.00200.x. PMID: 15853839.

• Michael CG, Javid NS, Colaizzi FA, Gibbs CH. Biting strength and chewing forces in complete denture wearers. J Prosthet Dent. 1990 May;63(5):549-53. doi: 10.1016/0022-3913(90)90074-m. PMID: 2338667.

• Fürhauser N, et al. Bite force after fixed full-arch implant rehabilitation (All-on-4) compared to complete dentures and dentate patients. Clin Oral Implants Res. 2018;29(S17):365. https://doi.org/10.1111/clr.250_13358

This article is intended for general educational purposes and does not constitute personalized dental advice. A clinical assessment by a qualified dental professional is required for diagnosis and treatment planning.