After undergoing a major dental procedure such as wisdom teeth removal, knowing what you can and cannot eat is challenging. The right foods can aid recovery, while the wrong choices can irritate the area and even lead to a dry socket, a painful secondary condition where the blood clot at the surgical site dislodges before your wound heals.
Knowing what to eat after wisdom teeth removal and what to avoid could make all the difference to your recovery. Follow these tips and ideas.
Ideas for What to Eat After Wisdom Teeth Removal
Various characteristics make food suitable for consumption after wisdom tooth extractions and other dental procedures such as dental implant surgery. Choose soft foods that don’t require chewing and will not crumble and get into the extraction site. Having cold foods and beverages can feel good as they help soothe irritation and even reduce residual swelling from the surgery.
You should aim to eat a nutritious diet full of vitamins, minerals, and protein, as this will give your body the energy it needs to recover. These criteria might sound impossible to meet, but the following is a list of foods that are suitable to eat after wisdom tooth removal:
- Soups and broth (during the first few days, stick to cool soups such as gazpacho)
- Cool greek yoghurt (add honey for a bit of sweetness and its numerous healing properties)
- Soft scrambled eggs
- Mashed fruit or vegetables such as potatoes, pumpkin, avocados, or bananas
- Ice-cream; it’s delicious and soothing
- Smoothies, but do not drink them through a straw as the sucking motion can dislodge blood clots
- Hummus
- Oatmeal
- Soft fish like salmon or cod
What Not to Eat After Wisdom Teeth Removal?
Knowing what food and drink to avoid is as important as knowing what to eat after wisdom teeth removal. You should not eat or drink various things as they can impede your recovery or cause you pain. These items include:
Hot Food and Beverages
Not only is successful blood clotting essential for the extraction site to heal, but if clotting doesn’t occur, you can experience a dry socket, which is extremely painful. Instead of hot foods, stick to lukewarm and cold foods.
Spicy and Acidic Foods
It is not a good idea to eat spicy or acidic foods and beverages as they can irritate your wound and tender gums, causing you discomfort. This includes citrus fruits such as oranges and grapefruit, though it is a good idea to eat other fruit and vegetables to ensure you get lots of vitamins to support your immune system while healing.
Alcoholic Beverages
Although you might want to have a glass of wine to help you relax after a wisdom tooth removal, there are several reasons why you should avoid drinking alcohol while recovering. Alcoholic drinks can irritate the extraction site, particularly those that are also acidic.
Alcohol can also slow down the healing process, including blood clotting. On top of that, alcohol also negatively affects your sleep, which plays an important role in recovery.
Alcohol may also negatively interact with any medication or antibiotics you prescribed after your wisdom tooth removal.
Hard or Chewy Foods
Any food that requires a lot of chewing or a forceful bite, such as hard or chewy foods, can put you at risk of reopening your stitches and delay your recovery after a wisdom tooth removal. Avoid nuts, jerky, chewing gum, and boiled sweets while you recover from wisdom tooth extractions.
Crumbly or Dry Foods
After a wisdom tooth extraction, you must try and keep the area as clean as possible. This can be challenging because brushing and rinsing can dislodge the blood clot and cause a dry socket. For this reason, you should try to keep food away from the extraction site as much as possible.
Food that crunches or crumbles into little pieces like cookies or chips and bitty foods such as seeds or grains like rice is not ideal if you have undergone wisdom tooth removal because it is very difficult to keep the crumbs away from the extraction site.
Dental Care You Can Trust
Having the proper diet after wisdom tooth removal can make you feel much better and significantly improve your recovery. Trying to balance all of the dos and don’ts can seem challenging, but there are many nutritious and tasty things you can eat for the first seven to ten days of your recovery.
At Available Dental Care, we believe that great dental care should be available to everyone who needs it, including nuanced advice for recovering from dental procedures. That is why we are known for our exceptional service and care.
If you are interested in thorough dental care, call us today on (02) 4062 8763 to arrange an initial consultation.
Note: Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks. Before proceeding, you should seek a second opinion from an appropriately qualified health practitioner.