Linda writes:
> I am
> trying to stay postive as I will have > a smile to be proud of again.

DO be positive. If nothing else, your smile will be beautiful, yes?

> I am worried about gagging on it,

Share this worry with your dentist. There are ways around the problem. I
felt gaggy with my denture, and the dentist shortened the palate from the
back. One woman on this list had her dentist completely remove the palate
part of her denture and lived to tell the tale. That's kind of drastic, but
it does show us that there are options.

> I am also worried that i will not be
> able to eat foods I use to.

Based on what most people who write on this list say, you will be able to
eat everything. (Even I ate a steak last Saturday -- my first in about 3
years.-- funny, I didn't even give it a second thought until just now.. I
got the denture 2 years ago, but my teeth were so miserable before that I
had already cut out a lot of foods)
When you first get your denture, you can manage soft things. I tried to
bite bread with a delicious looking cheese-spread on it about three hours
after my surgery, but that was a bust. I did manage to eat a grilled cheese
sandwich the next day, by cutting it up into bite-sized pieces. By the
fourth day, I could eat pulled pork barbecue (with a fork, without the bun),
and by the fifth day, I ate a nice fish.
For the recuperation time, if you decide not to get frustrated, you can
always *choose* to eat nice delicious chew-free food. The list website has
lots of recipes which are easy to prepare (because I am too lazy to work
hard at cooking)

On the list website, in the files section, there is a file called "Questions
to Ask" with good questions to ask *before* you have the
extractions!http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/dentureadventures/files/