Undergoing oral surgery, whether it's a tooth extraction, dental implant placement, or wisdom teeth removal, requires careful attention to post-operative care, especially your diet. Your dentist or oral surgeon may recommend a soft food diet to minimize irritation, prevent complications, and promote healing. This article provides a comprehensive guide to navigating your diet after oral surgery, including what to eat, what to avoid, and helpful tips for a smooth recovery.
Why a Soft Food Diet is Necessary After Oral Surgery
After oral surgery, your jaw and mouth can feel sore, and there's a high chance you have sutures or stitches. Eating soft foods after dental surgery will help to reduce irritation on an open wound and avoid biting on the treated tooth. Following your doctor’s recommendations when it comes to your diet is vital.
What to Eat After Oral Surgery: Soft Food Options
While a soft food diet may seem limited, the truth is that there is a wide variety of nutritious and delicious foods that don’t require much chewing. Here are some ideas on what you can eat that falls into the soft foods category. Pro tip: Soft foods will become your new best friend.
Foods to eat after wisdom teeth removal and other kinds of oral surgery can include, but aren’t limited to:
- Dairy: Yogurt, cottage cheese, ice cream or sorbet.
- Fruits: Applesauce, bananas, watermelon and peaches, Smoothies.
- Grains: Cooked pasta, rice.
- Proteins: Scrambled eggs, soft meats, or cottage cheese.
- Other: Jell-O®, Pudding, Milkshakes, Protein shakes, Mashed potatoes.
When it comes to soft foods, you want to look for physically soft food. The overall goal is to reduce the need for chewing, so choose options that are easy to chew and swallow. You can also puree, mash, or chop foods into more manageable sizes or textures.
Read also: The Hoxsey Diet
What to Avoid After Oral Surgery
Navigating your diet after dental surgery is as much about knowing the 50 soft foods to eat after dental surgery as it is about understanding what to avoid. What not to eat is just as important as what to eat. Hard foods are the top culprits for discomfort and complications after dental surgery.
Here's a list of foods and drinks to avoid:
- Spicy foods: Salsa and hot sauce.
- Acidic foods: Orange juice, tomatoes and tomato sauce, tomato juice, lemonade and vinegar.
- Hard or crunchy foods: Nuts, chips, cookies and crackers, especially items with seeds, Popcorn, Seeds, Cracked pepper.
- Hot beverages: Coffee, tea, and soup that can become too hot.
- Alcohol and smoking: Alcohol can put a strain on your organs and make it more difficult for your body to heal. It can also interact negatively with common drugs prescribed after treatment like pain medication and antibiotics. You should avoid drinking while on any of these medications,” says Dr. Janowicz. Smoking shrinks the blood vessels that carry healing cells to your surgical site and can severely affect your body’s ability to heal. Additionally, smoking can lead to dry socket.
You also want to be careful with certain hot foods like coffee, tea and soup that can become too hot. Make sure those foods are lukewarm or room temperature before consuming.
“You should avoid very hot foods post-surgery to avoid disrupting your blood clot,” stresses Dr. Janowicz. “Additionally, you should avoid spicy, acidic foods and anything very hard or crunchy like nuts or crackers that could disrupt your sutures.”
The Role of Dairy in Your Post-Surgery Diet
As you explore the 50 soft foods to eat after dental surgery, you’ll notice that while some dairy products are included, there are specific reasons why others should be avoided during the initial recovery phase. The primary concern with certain dairy products post-surgery is the presence of bacteria that could lead to infections at the surgical site. Moreover, the proteins in dairy can sometimes cause inflammation, which is counterproductive to healing.
Read also: Walnut Keto Guide
However, not all dairy products are off-limits. Soft dairy foods like Greek yogurt and cottage cheese are often well-tolerated because they provide protein and are easy to consume without disturbing the surgical site. For those with lactose intolerance or a sensitive stomach post-surgery, it’s advisable to listen to your body and avoid dairy products that could cause nausea or digestive issues.
Helpful Tips for Eating After Oral Surgery
- Temperature: Immediately following surgery, have extreme caution with all hot temperature beverages or foods, including coffee, tea, hot chocolate, or soups, as the numbness from the anesthesia will leave you unable to detect items that are too hot. All food and drinks need to be room temperature to cool. Avoid anything hot for the first 24 hours.
- Hydration: We encourage you to drink fluids immediately following surgery. Significant dehydration can occur over 1-2 days. Drinking should be strictly enforced by the caregiver, whether or not the patient desires to drink. Clear fluids such as juices, broth, Jell-O, and warm tea and coffee are advised on the day after surgery.
- Straws: DO NOT use a straw for the first 2 weeks after surgery. The suction from a straw can disrupt your clot and lead to dry socket,” he warns.
- Nutrition: All patients benefit from proper nutrition which includes proteins, carbohydrates and fats (yes, even fats!). A diet rich in protein, such as eggs, soft meats, or cottage cheese, is desirable to promote healing. Supplements, such as Ensure, Boost, Powerade, and Gatorade add calories and help the healing process.
- Chewing: Do not consume foods that require you to chew. Any patients who had grafting of bone or soft tissue must be on a soft to liquid diet for 7 to 10 days and must limit themselves to chewing on the opposite side of the graft site.
- Lactose Intolerance: If you can’t tolerate lactose or are allergic to dairy, try the following: Use Lactaid milk (if you are lactose intolerant) or soy milk (if you are allergic to dairy). Use a lactose-free nutritional supplement (they may not be milk-free) as part of a meal or snack. Use a soy-based frozen dessert such as Tofutti in place of ice cream in beverage recipes.
When to Start Eating Solid Foods Again
Are you wondering: When can I eat after wisdom teeth removal? Your oral surgery may have required sedation options such as nitrous oxide or intravenous (IV) sedation.
“It’s important to avoid eating until the local anesthesia wears off,” advises Dr. Janowicz. “This is to prevent you from chewing or biting on your soft tissues and tongue that you may not be able to feel. After this, you can eat as tolerated, starting with soft, cold or room-temperature foods.”
Living on a diet of mashed potatoes and Jell-O doesn’t sound that thrilling. But it’s important that you don’t rush your return to solid foods.
“The diet after surgery really depends on the individual patient and procedure, but you can advance your diet as tolerated,” says Dr. Janowicz. “Eat soft foods for two to three days, and slowly introduce more solid foods in the days following. Your body will tell you if it’s too much - don’t overdo it.”
Read also: Weight Loss with Low-FODMAP
The Rule of Twos:
- 2000 calories a day
- 2 liters of liquid a day
Blender Information
Many favorite foods may already be soft enough such as a smoothie, protein shake, mashed potatoes, omelets, or yogurt. Additionally, by using a blender or food processor and adding some liquid, most food can be made soft. Otherwise, commercial baby food or nutritional supplements may be used. Considering enhancing the flavor with favorite seasonings.
Blender Method
- Place liquid in a blender.
- Add food.
- Blend on low until smooth.
- You may need to add additional liquid or increase the blender speed to reach the desired consistency.
Nutritional Supplements
Nutritional Supplements provide liquid nutrition in a convenient form. These products are not essential but can be helpful as part of a meal or snack.
Some products to look for at your drug store or grocery store:
- Boost*
- Carnation Instant Breakfast
- Ensure, Ensure Plus
- Essentials*
- NuBasics, NuBasics Plus
- Resource, Resource Plus, Resource for Kids
- Pediasure* (for children)
Note: *These items are lactose-free. Vitamin and mineral supplements are not necessary with a well-balanced diet. However, if you find that you are not able to regularly consume the recommended number of servings from the United States Department of Agriculture, it would be beneficial to take a vitamin and mineral supplement.
Ask your pharmacist to help you choose a suitable variety, since you may need this supplement in liquid form.