What to Eat After Wisdom Teeth Extraction?
Following your dentist’s aftercare instructions for wisdom teeth extraction will help ensure speedy, thorough healing, and this includes following guidelines for what to eat after extraction. Some foods can interfere with healing, irritating the extraction site, while other foods are more likely to get stuck in the tiny corners near the site, which could lead to infection. Healing from wisdom teeth extraction might involve a few days of discomfort, too, and eating soft, soothing foods can help ease discomfort and make the recovery process smoother. Your dentist will provide a complete set of instructions for both before and after your wisdom teeth extraction, including a list of recommended foods and the timeline for introducing these foods back into the diet. In most cases, people can resume a normal diet within a week following their procedure.
Wisdom teeth extraction involves anesthesia, whether you choose local anesthetic, general anesthetic, or both. It’s important to avoid eating until after the numbness caused by the local anesthetic wears off, as it’s incredibly easy to damage the tongue or other oral tissues if you eat while the mouth is still numb. After your wisdom teeth are extracted, your oral surgeon will suture the gums closed at the surgical site and place gauze over the extraction area until bleeding subsides, making it more difficult to eat. As you introduce nutrients after extraction, start with soft foods and nutritious liquids that you don’t have to chew, like yogurt, smoothies (watch out for berry seeds!), applesauce, mashed potatoes, and broths or blended soups.
You might also find mild relief from cold foods like Jell-O and ice cream, which can ease some of the discomfort that follows wisdom teeth extraction. Try as best as you can to maintain some sort of balance in your nutrition intake, perhaps including savory soups to balance out the sugars in ice cream and other sweet treats, as this will help with healing. As healing progresses, after the first few days, try introducing soft, solid foods back into your diet. These could include things like scrambled eggs, oatmeal, and certain cooked fruits and vegetables. If these foods don’t irritate your extraction sites, you can try introducing proteins like fish or chicken and broadening your selection of fruits and vegetables.
While these mild, soft foods should be safe to introduce as you recover from wisdom teeth removal, there are some foods you’ll want to avoid until the extraction site has completely healed. Spicy foods and foods or drinks that are high in acid, like orange juice, could irritate the surgical site and cause pain. Alcoholic beverages, which can irritate the oral tissues as they heal, should be avoided; this is especially important if you’re taking prescription pain medication, which interacts negatively with alcohol. Grains, especially smaller grains like quinoa and couscous, and small seeds, like poppy seeds, sesame seeds, or the seeds in berries, are best avoided, as they commonly become trapped in the nooks and crannies of the mouth and could end up trapped in your surgical site. Avoid foods that are especially hard, tough, or chewy, like jerky, steak, or nuts, as chewing these foods could place undue strain on the sutures and cause them to open back up. Although it isn’t a food, tobacco should also be avoided after wisdom teeth extraction, as tobacco use greatly increases the risk of complications as people heal. Avoid smoking for at least three days after extraction, and, if you use chewing tobacco, refrain from use for at least a week, to prevent infection and painful dry sockets from developing. In most cases, patients who follow these guidelines are able to return to normal eating and activity about a week after their wisdom teeth extraction and report complete, comfortable healing with no complications. Follow your dentist’s guidelines to ensure your own satisfaction with your wisdom teeth extraction.