After getting surgery for tooth extraction, your extraction site is susceptible and needs to be healed. Due to this fact, your doctor recommends a liquid diet containing almost no chewable food items. For two weeks, you should avoid consuming solid foods, during which you are supposed to take care of yourself and avoid drinking or smoking. After two weeks, depending on your current situation, you can start eating solid foods again.
When it comes to tooth extraction, it can be painful and a sensitive time to go through. There could be various reasons for getting your tooth extracted, such as crowded teeth, severe damage, infection, tooth decay, or gum disease. Wisdom tooth removal also falls under this category.
Whatever the reason might be, the period after extraction is sensitive. Most people wonder what kind of food they should consume after it.
Your doctor will caution you against eating solid foods until the affected area is completely healed. But why can’t you consume solid foods? What kind of solid foods should you avoid? And till when should you avoid solid foods?
Tooth extraction
There could be various reasons behind your tooth extraction, but the one thing people mostly worry about is the type of food they can or can’t eat after their tooth extraction. Be it any extracted tooth, your doctor will advise you against eating solid foods for the next couple of weeks.
Your doctor says this because when you get your tooth extracted, it leaves behind a gap. As a result, a blood clot is formed for the next few days, and the affected area is sensitive. Then, it needs a couple of weeks to heal properly.
So much so that you can’t put any pressure on your gums. If you try to consume solid foods, you’ll have to chew quite hard. This is what you should avoid.
If any pressure is put on your gums due to chewing the solid foods, your wound will reopen, exposing it and causing bleeding. Since the affected area is sensitive and needs time to heal, you must avoid solid foods and depend on a liquid diet.
Foods you can consume after tooth extraction
While solid foods are not to be consumed, you are dependent on liquid or mashed foods, which require no chewing and can be swallowed easily without putting any effort on the gums.
After your surgery, your doctor will provide you with a list of foods you can consume. Right after the surgery, you will face swelling, numbness, and pain.
It’s better to get these recommended food items beforehand if you live alone or let someone who lives with you help you out.
A list of items you can consume are:
- Yogurt
- Mashed potato
- Warm soups
- Mashed pumpkin
- Avocados
- Ice cream
- Hummus
- Cottage cheese
- Instant oatmeal
- Non-salty salmon
For the next one week, you should only consume the kind of food mentioned above. You need to ensure you can still get your nutrients, so healthy homemade food is a must, and outside food shouldn’t be consumed.
You can blend vegetables and make a soup out of them. Consuming chicken and beef broths will be helpful and nutritious at the same time.
Foods to avoid after tooth extraction
After your tooth extraction, your mouth needs two weeks to heal properly. During this time, your doctor will recommend a list of food items that you can consume. This list will include liquid food or food that requires no chewing at all.
Even though solid foods are off-limits, your doctor will still provide you with a list of food items that should absolutely not be consumed. These include:
- Chips
- Nuts
- Spicy flavor food
- Cookies
- Solid meats
- Whole vegetables
- Crackers
- Snack bars
- Hard or chewy candy
- Alcohol
- Sugar and sweets
- Rice
Anything crunchy should be avoided as the particles can hurt the sensitive area of the extraction site. The pieces can also get lodged in there and irritate.
When it comes to chewy food, they require a lot of work from our jaw, teeth, and gums, which needs to be avoided altogether. Alcohol can cause inflammation to your mouth and gums and cause pain too.
Items like rice and dishes with similar textures should be avoided as they can become stuck in your extraction site.
Tooth extraction aftercare
After the initial two days, you might see a clot forming on the extraction site. The clot should remain in place to let it heal properly.
Performing saline rinses will kill any bacteria in the mouth that may cause infections. You can brush your teeth carefully but should take special care of the extraction site.
You can move from a complete liquid diet to a somewhat solid diet that includes mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, avocado, etc.
Continuing this for two weeks will immensely improve your condition and heal your extraction site properly.
After two weeks, you can resume eating solid foods if you’re not facing any issues with the extraction site. You can also restart your exercise.
Things to remember
- Do not drink alcohol or smoke during this process of healing. Smoking can cause a sucking motion in your mouth, which can dislodge the blood clot and cause problems with your socket. A similar thing happens with using a straw, so avoid using that too.
- Don’t exercise too much or put yourself through any strenuous activities. This can put pressure on your gums and cause issues with the socket or cause your gums to swell. Try simple stretches and walks.
- Avoid chewing on the side where your tooth was extracted. Even though the food you’re allowed to eat involves almost no chewing, you should do whatever little chewing is needed from the other side of the affected area.
- Brushing and flossing other teeth is recommended to avoid infection. If you don’t clean your teeth properly, the remaining food particles can cause irritation or infection to the affected area.
- Stop yourself from touching the extraction site at any cost. Your tongue might want to go there to see how far the area is healed, but doing this will only hinder the healing.
- Finally, relaxing and taking proper rest is essential and beneficial for healing in your body. Don’t stress yourself physically or emotionally, and take it easy.
FAQs
When can I eat pizza after tooth extraction?
After your tooth extraction, you need proper care for two weeks, including avoiding any junk food and solid foods for faster recovery. For your extraction to heal might take two weeks, and only after your gums have completely healed can you think about eating a pizza.
What can I eat 7 days after tooth extraction?
For the first couple of days, you should only keep a liquid diet. Then, from day 3 onwards, you can start consuming foods like scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes, soups, and likes of that.
After 7 days, you should keep the same diet for your extraction site requires two weeks to be completely healed. If you start eating solid food just after a week, it can become problematic for you.
When can I stop worrying about dry socket?
Dry sockets occur when your blood clot is either removed or never formed in the first place. There’s a risk until your extraction site is fully healed. So, you need to be careful and take proper precautions for the next 10 days.
When can I brush my teeth with toothpaste after an extraction?
Avoid brushing your teeth on the day after getting your tooth extraction. The next day is fine to start brushing, but remember to do it as gently as possible and completely avoid the extraction site area. Keep brushing gently and slowly for the next 10 days unless you see some progress in the healing.
When can I stop rinsing with saltwater after tooth extraction?
Until your stitches are dissolved, you should keep rinsing with salt water. You should continue this for two weeks. After this, when you visit your doctor for a follow-up, and there’s no issue, you can stop rinsing.
To summarize
Tooth extraction can be a little painful and requires a lot of proper aftercare. Your doctor will give you a list of instructions that include things you need to do to take care of your extraction site and foods to avoid and consume.
After this surgery, your gums are sensitive, so one basic rule is to avoid eating solid foods.
A liquid diet will help you heal faster as they don’t require any effort to consume compared to solid foods. Also, taking care and proper rest will help your extraction site heal faster. After two weeks of aftercare, you’re allowed to eat solid foods if there’s no other issue.
You can make your liquid diet as fun as possible while you’re at it and avoid eating outside food at all costs!
