Oral surgery can be painful after getting one. The worse pain comes when you are yet to heal and find it difficult to get the fast healing you want in order to start eating your favorite meal.
One thing is true regardless of age: You still need to eat after oral surgery, whether you are a teenager getting your wisdom teeth pulled or a senior citizen smiling into your golden years with a full-smile procedure. What’s on the menu, then? The unfortunate reality is that you must consume only soft meals while you recuperate.
The good news is that you can still consume many delicious foods after oral surgery. You can reward yourself with soft, chilly options like sorbet, pudding, and cheesecake, given that the surgery will be (literally) as painful as removing teeth. However, keeping a nutritious, well-balanced diet encourages recovery, so eat plenty of water and easy-to-swallow healthy foods like scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes, and yogurt.
If you are unsure about what to eat after oral surgery, remember that anything that requires excessive chewing will irritate your wounds and delay recovery. Additionally, avoid using straws if you have had a tooth extracted (such as your wisdom teeth) since they might disturb blood clots and cause a painful disease called dry socket. Also, avoid chewy, harsh, spicy, hot, cold, acidic, and crunchy foods, and foods with small pieces that can irritate wounds (like seeds).
People frequently have their wisdom teeth removed to solve these issues. However, wisdom teeth don’t always need to be extracted unless they start to cause problems.
After having your wisdom teeth removed, it’s imperative to make sure you’re eating properly. A healthy, balanced diet reduces the likelihood of issues, helps to control edema, nourishes the body, and speeds up wound healing.
Your diet following surgery should include meals that are soft and easy to chew. They should also be rich in vitamins, minerals, energy, and protein to promote wound healing.
Your post-surgery diet will likely consist of soft, pureed, or liquid foods. You will be able to advance your diet as the wounds heal.
Smaller, more frequent meals could be simpler to handle. Foods with tomato, onion, pepper, or spice flavorings may irritate you. Acidic fruit juices might also give you a burning sensation.
Due to soreness and swelling in your mouth on the day following oral surgery, you might not be able to chew semi-solid or solid foods; thus, the goal is to drink 48 to 64 oz. (6–8 cups) of liquids every day.
A liquid diet consists of water, fruit and vegetable juices, coffee and tea without caffeine, lukewarm pureed soups, gelatin, and smoothies. Avoid using a straw since the sucking motion can strain your body, displace the blood clot that has just formed, and prolong your recovery.
Pay attention to the amount of liquid sugar you drink every day. Protein and fiber-rich fats help to balance the drinks.
Eat soft, simple-to-chew, and easy-to-swallow meals while your mouth starts to heal. These ingredients can be minced, mashed, pureed, moistened, and ground.
Try soups with soft meat or soft vegetables. Also likely to be tolerated are soft grains like oatmeal, rice, cream of rice, risotto, and cooked pasta.
You should be able to eat cooked fruits and veggies without any problems. Ripe banana slices, applesauce, baked apples (without the skin), baked or boiling sweet potatoes or yams, spinach, beets, cooked carrot slices, and potatoes are examples of fruits and vegetables.
Protein plays a crucial role in the healing process. Don’t forget to incorporate a source of protein when creating smoothies.
You may purée protein into a soup containing yogurt, cottage cheese, or protein powder. On a soft food diet after oral surgery, you are permitted to eat tofu, stewed, diced, roasted, baked, or broiled lean beef, chicken, soft fish like trout, whitefish, and salmon, as well as soft scrambled eggs.
Consume dairy items like milk, yogurt, and cottage cheese if you have lactose intolerance. Keep in mind that Greek yogurt has more protein than regular yogurt. To achieve balanced meals, add healthy fats to your food. Avocado, olive oil, coconut oil, coconut butter, flax oil, and salmon are good fats.
For the first week after surgery, please avoid spicy foods, hard-to-chew items (including steak, poultry, and deli meats), popcorn, pretzels, potato chips, crusty bread, bagels, pastries, and alcoholic beverages.
A potato dish
A versatile root vegetable, potatoes can be prepared in various ways. After removing your wisdom teeth, mashed potatoes might be soothing to eat.
They are calorie- and nutrient-dense, which is crucial for healing (10 Trusted Source). This is because, following surgery, people need a little more energy.
If you have trouble eating enough food, mashed potatoes are a terrific option since they provide you the chance to get a lot of nutrients and energy in just a few bites (6Trusted Source, 11Trusted Source). Make sure your mashed potatoes are either lukewarm or chilly because hot meals may irritate the wound.
Combination soups and broths
Delicious and nutritious soups and broths can be found in many dishes. They might be anti-inflammatory and shorten the healing time. Additionally, these foods are rich in vitamins and minerals that are good for your health. Ensure all big pieces are included since the injured area could be harmed if any are missing.
After thoroughly blending them, you are ready to go. Additionally, you must avoid eating them when they are still quite hot. Eat these when they have cooled.
Broken bananas
One of the most consumed fruits worldwide is the banana. After dental surgery, they are simple to chew and swallow due to their soft texture.
Additionally, bananas are pretty nutrient-dense and offer a wide range of vitamins and minerals, including potassium, vitamin B6, manganese, and folate (14 Trusted Source). Bananas’ texture can be further softened by mashing them, lowering the likelihood of discomfort.
Rapid oatmeal
The ideal comfort food a few days after your wisdom teeth removal or dental implant oral surgery is quick oatmeal, a childhood favorite. Although it is gentle, it contains tiny pieces of grain that might aggravate healing wounds. Don’t forget to wait until it has cooled off as well.
Avocado
Fruits like avocados are unusual. Avocados have a low carbohydrate content but are high in healthful fats, unlike most fruits.
They are excellent to eat while healing from having your wisdom teeth out because of their smooth, creamy texture. Avocados are incredibly healthy and a great source of potassium, vitamin K, and vitamin C. (16Trusted Source).
According to a study on animals, avocados may hasten the healing of wounds. The results are encouraging, even though this study does not show if avocados speed up wound healing in people (17 Trusted Source). Although avocados are often simple to eat, it could be best to have whipped or mashed avocado during your rehabilitation.
Bottom Line
Patients with these operations are typically instructed to eat only soft foods and refrain from biting or chewing with the affected tooth or area for a while. For instance, until the tooth has been rebuilt and a crown has been applied, patients are advised by the American Association of Endodontists to refrain from biting down or chewing after a root canal.
Following oral surgery, such as the extraction of wisdom teeth or the implantation of dental implants, soft food products, such as those on the following list, can be consumed. You can experience significant soreness in your jaw and mouth just after therapy. Concentrate on consuming a range of healthful, non-chewing foods.
- nourishing vegetable soups (cream of asparagus, lentil, minestrone, split pea)
- Juices (cranberry, apple, grape)
- Green Tea
- Jell-O
- Yogurt and sorbet (soft or frozen)
- Custard or pudding
- ripe, soft fruits (banana, papaya, berries, canned peaches, or pears)
- Applesauce
- Popsicles
- Shakes or ice cream
- Newly prepared vegetables (carrots, squash, green beans, spinach, and other greens)
- protein shakes or fruit smoothies.
- Cream of wheat or oatmeal (made with milk to boost nutrition)
- Eggs (scrambled, soft boiled, or egg salad )
- A potato dish
- quinoa, bulgur, couscous, or rice
- Tofu
- Noodles with pasta (plain, buttered, or with sauce )
- Fish (soft white fish, sole, trout, or salmon)
- supple cheeses
- Cheese cottage
- Meatloaf
- Tortillas (soften by microwaving or steaming)
- Shredded, soft-cooked chicken and flesh
- fruit in a can or baked (apples or peaches)
- Butter made from peanuts or another nut
- tuna or chicken salad
- Cans of mashed or refried beans
- Avocado
- Pancakes
- supple bread
- Hummus
This food will also help you get back to your feet and start enjoying your special meal you are used to before the surgery. Always ask your doctor for advise and guidance at any point you get confused.
