Coming home from the dentist’s office after wisdom tooth extraction, you may not feel like eating much right away. After a while, however, you may start to feel hungry, but what could you eat while your mouth recovers from this procedure? Here are some guiding principles to help you select the right kinds of food to get back to normal oral health without running into complications or setbacks.
How Your Diet Contributes to Your Healing
The foods you eat after an extraction procedure can directly impact your ability to heal from it. After all, the nutrients you get from your food can enable your body to fight infection and keep oral bacteria to a minimum.
To decrease the bad oral bacteria in your mouth, you should avoid eating overly sugary foods. Also, extremely hot foods could trigger pain or sensitivity, but cold foods can help reduce your discomfort, meaning it’s okay to have a little ice cream following your wisdom tooth extraction!
The First 48 Hours
Immediately following wisdom tooth extraction, it is important to keep the sites safe. A blood clot must form to protect the vulnerable areas from bacteria. As a result, you should drink a lot of fluids, but you must not suck through a straw. This motion will cause the clot to disconnect from the site and increase your risk of contracting dry socket, a very painful infection.
For at least 48 hours, stick to soft foods and liquids, like mashed potatoes, yogurt, eggs, and other similar foods to give your tender mouth a break.
About a Week After the Procedure
After some time, usually between four and seven days after extraction, you may start to resume a more normal diet. However, you should transition back slowly. Begin with semi-soft foods and work toward adding in more crunchy or hard foods.
Other Aftercare Tips
During the healing process, you need to continue cleaning your teeth and gums, even the same day as your procedure. Soon after you get back home, you should rinse your mouth with warm salt water, and before you go to bed, gently brush and floss your teeth. Just be extra careful around the site, making sure you do not disturb the clot.
As time passes following your wisdom tooth extraction, you can return to normal and enjoy a healthy, varied diet. Just as the procedure is often the best solution in the long term, taking these steps right after the procedure can help protect your smile moving forward.
About the Practice
Pioneer Greens Dentistry has provided comprehensive dental services to the Lincoln area for about 20 years now. Dr. Chris Haag, Dr. Claire Haag, and Dr. Justin Shirk can perform wisdom tooth extractions in-house as well as routine checkups and cleanings and other treatments. If you would like to learn more about extractions, you can contact our office at 402-483-7502 or visit our Contact Us page online. We’ll be happy to help however we can!