Tooth extraction is a dental procedure that is prescribed in case of severe damage to dental tissues. Foods to eat after wisdom teeth removal must be soft that are easy to chew, as well as avoid hot, spicy foods and alcohol.

We offer you several options for tasty and healthy products that will help you quickly recover after tooth extraction.

What more do you need to know to complete such a procedure successfully?

Tell your dentist about any medical conditions and what medications you are taking. Make sure to do this prior to tooth extraction. The surgeon will tell you what to do after the operation.

Remember that the safety of such a procedure depends on who you entrust to the health of your teeth.

What to eat after undergoing wisdom tooth extraction?

What to eat after undergoing wisdom tooth extraction? Here you will discover the best foods to consume and an example of a daily diet to follow.

To proceed without complications, you need to follow your doctor’s recommendations and eat right for the wound healing process.

Following the removal of a tooth, it is necessary to follow a purely more liquid and soft diet to reduce chewing effort.

So, surely you will have to avoid all those solid, fibrous, hot, or excessively cold foods that can be painful in the mouth.

In addition, your food should contain beneficial minerals and vitamins to help your body deal with wound healing.

Before discovering the best foods to consume, let’s try to quickly understand how tooth removal takes place, the postoperative symptoms, and all the food procedures to follow to promote proper dental rest.

How does the intervention take place?

The dentist performs the wisdom tooth extraction operation with the patient’s consent. Before proceeding, the doctor performs loco-regional anesthesia on the area of ​​the intervention.

When the part to be worked on is completely anesthetized, the dentist begins to proceed with the removal of the tooth, and the procedure can take place in three ways:

• Simple extraction: This procedure occurs when the part of extraction is aligned with the other dental elements. Through specific dislocation movements, the doctor will be able to extract the tooth from the alveolus. Before doing all this, it is necessary to carefully evaluate the shape and curvature of the roots. If these are convergent or hooked on the outside, it will be necessary to use rotating tools to cut the element into two parts.
• Semi-embedded extraction: A small portion of the bone structure is removed near the tooth’s crown if the tooth is semi-embedded or partially embedded.
• Extraction in total bone inclusion: If, on the other hand, the wisdom tooth has a complete bone entry, it is necessary first to identify the crown to remove the overlying bone area. If there is any blockage in part to remove, it is necessary to perform a section of the dental crown and remove the dissected dental parts. After this, the doctor cleans the alveolus and performs a suture to block the blood leakage of the treated area.

What to do after dental surgery?

After wisdom tooth removal, it is compulsory to block the treated area with a piece of gauze. Before releasing the patient, it is recommended to hold the subject for at least 10 minutes.

After that, we must provide the patient with all the advice to follow.

Postoperative symptoms.

After the successful dental removal, annoying symptoms may appear, such as:

• Persistent pain even five days after surgery.
• Excessive swelling.
• Bleeding from the gums for up to three days after surgery.
• Keep these behaviors (especially in the 36 hours following the dental intervention) to facilitate complete recovery.
• In gingival blood loss, use a piece of gauze to keep on the operated area.
• Using cold therapy: Keep an ice pack on the treated area, not directly contacting the skin but wrapped in a soft towel.

Foods to eat after wisdom teeth removal.

After wisdom tooth removal, choosing the foods to consume with absolute care is necessary.

You will have to follow the so-called “tooth-safe diet,” which will quickly soothe the pain, enhancing the entire healing process.

After wisdom tooth removal, the best diet to follow is the so-called “soft diet,” consisting mainly of baby food, broths, pastries, mainly liquid fruit (better the banana watermelon), puddings, yogurt, ice cream, smoothies and mashed potatoes, and fruit and vegetable extracts.

Be careful to consume solid foods that can easily infect the treated area, as it is easier for solid food particles to get stuck between the teeth.

Recommended foods.

1.   Cream soup.

Creamy soups made from milk or yogurt are excellent sources of calcium, which can help promote bone health.

These meals will keep your body hydrated and replenished with vitamins. These dishes usually contain broccoli, legumes, or pumpkin.

The soup, whipped in a blender, can be eaten cold. It is good for damaged mucous membranes. Its consistency will make you feel full easily, even if your mouth is hard to open and the wound still hurts.

2.   Broths.

Vegetable, fish, and meat broths are excellent support for the body. These dishes are very beneficial during the recovery period. They contain many minerals and vitamins necessary for wound healing.

Chicken broth is especially useful. It contains an anti-inflammatory antioxidant that is important for quick recovery.

3.   Mashed potatoes.

For a thicker meal, you can try mashed potatoes. It contains vitamins and potassium, which are important for the restoration of bone and soft tissues. It also provides a lot of calories to replenish energy.

4.   Scrambled eggs.

Eggs are a great combination of protein and other nutrients to help repair damaged tissue. Scrambled eggs are much easier to chew than regular boiled eggs.

5.   Greek yogurt.

This product contains 40% less sugar and twice the protein than regular yogurt.  Greek yogurt is rich in calcium and zinc, making it great for healing bones and gums.

6.   Apple puree.

Apples contain vitamins that speed up the healing process. But after extraction, you won’t be able to chew this hard fruit, so make yourself an apple sauce. Peel the apples and grate. This version of the fruit dish is healthier than fruit juices that contain a lot of sugar.

7.   Banana puree.

Banana puree is rich in vitamins and minerals but high in calories. So be careful with it!

You can also whisk a mixture of frozen banana slices with cow’s milk or almond milk in a blender. This delicacy differs from regular ice cream in its lower sugar content.

8.   Avocado.

Avocado is an incredibly healthy fruit. It is high in Omega-3 monounsaturated fatty acids and vitamin C, which help in wound healing. Also, this fruit contains oleic acid, which has antifungal and antibacterial properties.

The delicate flesh of a ripe avocado tastes good and is easy to chew.

9.   Hummus.

An aromatic sauce made from chickpeas, olive oil, sesame paste, lemon, and garlic.

Hummus contains a lot of healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, and proteins. As we already know, these are all very important for postoperative treatment.

Until your wound heals, you will have to eat this sauce without the traditional pita bread.

10.  Salmon.

Easy-to-eat salmon is a source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids that your body needs to stop inflammation.

Therefore, enjoy salmon dishes, giving up meat products for a while.

11.  Cottage cheese.

It is a very healthy food rich in calcium and protein. It will help you repair your jawbone and damaged gums.

You can add cottage cheese to scrambled eggs, fruit purees, or smoothies to increase the calorie content of these dishes and enrich them with protein.

Eating pizza and pasta after tooth removal. Yes or no?

People, who undergo tooth removal surgery frequently ask, when will we start eating solid foods like pizza and pasta again?

Pizza can worsen the course of your recovery as it is excessively hot, salty, and spicy. Doctors advise avoiding this food at least for the first week.

Note: Before making any decisions about your health, always consult your doctor. Each subject responds to therapies and diets differently.

Pasta, on the other hand, you could start consuming again after five days, but again it would be better to eat a soft diet for the first two weeks to avoid any possible problems.

Can ice cream be consumed?

There is no contraindication that you forbid yourself from consuming ice cream, as it is soft food that does not make chewing difficult.

The advice we can give you is to avoid consuming excessively cold popsicles or ice creams. Perhaps before consuming ice cream, wait for it to defrost for one or two minutes to make the impact of the ice cream on your teeth less difficult.

Foods to avoid.

A specific menu for a person who has undergone wisdom tooth extraction must:

• Avoid consuming excessively hot or cold foods and drinks (A temperature that is too hot or cold can increase post-operation pain as the treated area is hypersensitive. Excess heat or cold can lengthen recovery times as they can cause contractions or dilations of the area just treated. It is good to choose soft foods with a “buttery” consistency at room temperature during the first five days.
• Avoid consuming sticky foods that make proper oral hygiene difficult, such as gummy candies, chewing gums, and other sticky and sugar-rich foods. Foods that are very difficult to remove, such as gelatinous consistencies, can create an ideal habitat for the proliferation of bacteria and cause an infection – best avoided!
• Avoid all those foods that can excessively engage chewing. To fully facilitate healing, the chewing muscles should not be over-tired.
• All excesses are harmful, so choose foods that are not overly hot, cold, solid, spicy, or salty. Hot spices or an excess of salt in your diet are also not very healthy for your dental healing.
• An ideal diet should consist of soft, liquid foods that cannot create post-surgery dental tissue damage.
• Especially in the first days, to have an excellent postoperative course, you must try to make chewing as easy as possible to avoid complications such as detachment of stitches, excess pain, and food residues in the operated area, which could facilitate the proliferation of germs and bacteria.

Can you drink alcohol after wisdom tooth removal?

After removing the wisdom tooth, it is advisable to absolutely avoid consuming any alcohol (wine, beer, vodka, etc.) for at least ten days.

Alcohol irritates the mouth excessively, compromising dental health. Immediately after the operation, the treated area is more sensitive and vulnerable than normal, so you need to pay more attention to avoid unpleasant side effects.

After at least ten days after the operation, you can safely go back to consuming one or two glasses of wine a day.

Wisdom tooth extraction: How soon can you eat?

Immediately after the surgery, the entire oral cavity will be numbed by the local anesthesia received before removing the wisdom tooth.

Once the numbness has passed, you can eat immediately, but you must choose the suitable foods described in the previous paragraphs to avoid possible side effects.

Especially in the post-operation week, you will have to follow a rigorous and purely liquid diet.

Example of daily diet after wisdom tooth extraction.

• Smoothie of two pears and 20 grams of Brazil nuts.
• Vegetable soup, two eggs, two tomatoes with a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil, and 50 grams of soft ice cream.
• Extract the juice of an apple, half a beetroot, a medium carrot, a sprig of parsley, and grated fresh ginger.
• Pumpkin and sesame seed smoothie – 80 grams of soft cheese, a grated carrot, and a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil.

How long the pain lasts after tooth extraction? Is it normal to feel pain even five days after surgery?

Everyone responds differently to therapy as each person is unique in their own way. Many people wonder if the pain is normal to persist 5 or 10 days after surgery. Let’s start by saying that five days is a relatively short time to have a complete recovery.

That said, if the pain persists for more than five days, it is advisable to consult your doctor immediately and make all necessary investigations.

In some cases, the pain may be due to a post-extraction infection called osteitis or post-extraction alveolitis, which occurs when bacteria come into contact with the post-extraction socket.

Usually, these complications depend on the dentist’s forgetfulness in explaining to the patient how to properly clean the operated part.

Take a syringe of physiological water and push this aqueous solution into the wound, to eliminate food leftovers and then treat the area with a chlorhexidine-based gel.

What not to do after the surgery?

After removing the tooth, the patient will have to follow some behaviors in order not to worsen the situation, such as:

• Do not smoke (you ought to avoid smoking for at least a week after surgery).
• Do not touch the sore with dirty hands, which can carry germs and bacteria to the treated area and cause an infection.
• Use a brush with soft bristles that do not excessively irritate the treated area.