What to eat after tooth extraction?
For at least 24 hours after your tooth extraction, you should only eat soft foods and drink liquids. You should ease into a more normal diet when you feel ready. Try to stick with easy-to-chew foods for a while. In a meantime, you can start by switching to smooth-textured, cold foods like yogurt, pudding, Jell-O, and ice cream. If you choose to eat ice cream, select an ice cream that does not contain crunchy or chewy candy pieces. Applesauce is a good choice after your tooth extraction because it will provide you with dietary fiber. A day later, you may try mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, pancakes, and broth-based soups without large chunks of meat. These foods have to be consumed lukewarm, NOT HOT.
What Is a Tooth Extraction?
An extraction process is typically a painless procedure when a tooth or tooth roots are removed without damaging the surface of the surrounding tissues. After the extraction, the socket heals with no post-procedure complications.
Dental surgeons usually provide their patients with instructions on how to treat their oral wounds after the extraction. Once a tooth is pulled out, be sure to pay attention to your dentist’s specific instructions to help prevent postoperative issues that could impact recovery time.
Subsequent to extraction, going through the guidelines on aftercare helps to lessen the risk of infection or dry socket.
There are 2 options of extracting procedures, and they are referred to below.
Simple Extractions
Usually, simple extractions of the entire teeth are performed on teeth that are visible in the mouth. It’s usually carried out under local anesthesia.
Surgical Extractions
When it comes to an un-erupted tooth or partially erupted tooth, dentists will perform surgical extraction procedures as long as there are no hindrances or obstructions preventing access to the tooth. This becomes essential in cases where the tooth has not grown fully or the tooth has been broken underneath the gum line.
In this procedure, the dentist may make an incision on the soft tissues covering the tooth. In some cases, the tooth may be divided into multiple sections to permit its extraction. Surgical extractions are often carried out under a general anesthesia.
Tooth extraction is the last solution worth considering as a dental alternative. For help choosing whether or not a tooth extraction is right for you, your dentist may be able to provide some guidance.
Timeline of What To Eat After Tooth Extraction Surgery
- What to eat the first 24 hours after tooth extraction: The safest food to eat in the first day after injury are those that are made up of liquids or soft meals, including yogurt, pudding, soups, applesauce, gelatin, and ice cream. Avoid circling the liquid in your mouth, as this may lead to blood clots.
- What to eat 48 hours after tooth extraction: As you start to feel stronger, you can begin indulging yourself a little more. Try some solid foods which are easy to chew, such as eggs, soft toast, and oatmeal. You can experiment with different flavors of tofu, which can provide you with much-needed protein, amino acids, iron, and calcium.
- What to eat 3 days after tooth extraction: You can begin adding new foods to your menu, including mashed potato, yogurt, cottage cheese, rice or pasta, squash, and hummus. Fruits, such as avocados and berries, possess a mushy consistency that’s delicious, as is a mashed avocado or guacamole. Concentrate on foods that are pulpy and thin, and cut food into bite-size pieces that are easy to chew.
- What to eat 1 week after tooth extraction: If you started to see the healing of your gums, you can start adding tougher foods back to your diet gradually. Be slow, though, and watch out if there are any indications of potential problems, such as bleeding or receding gums.
What drinks should I avoid after tooth extraction?
Stay away from alcoholic beverages, hot water, and ice in fruit or veggie juices, or switch off the juice. Use a spoon instead of gulping from a straw for at least 24 hours. The sucking action can cause undue stress on your mouth and dislodge any blood clots that form.
Follow your dentist’s instructions until you feel confident enough to go through the recovery process on your own, even if you experience any health issues or notice anything unusual. If you start to feel ill or get peculiar symptoms during your recovery process, do not wait to call their office for an appointment to get advice from your dentist. Despite its rarity, there is a chance of an infection developing if you have wisdom teeth removed.
Why Do You Need A Tooth Extraction?
A dentist might recommend a tooth extraction for a variety of reasons, such as impaction, tooth decay, periodontal and gum disease, trauma, or crowded teeth.
Tooth impaction: may happen approximately once one tooth grows aggressively toward another one. This results in infection and may also destroy adjacent health teeth. If you see or feel these symptoms, visit your dentist to see if extraction is a suitable course of action. Tooth impaction can additionally cause overcrowding, pushing previously aligned and well-aligned teeth to become crooked. Removing the problematic teeth may permit the others to expand as necessary.
Tooth Decay: can travel from your pearly whites to other parts of your teeth, resulting in considerable pain, redness, and swelling. When a tooth reaches this stage, extraction may be necessary. Another advantage of tooth extraction is that it helps to avoid developing more severe health complications in other parts of your mouth.
Teeth are among the few that are usually the first to be damaged after trauma. A single accident may result in a tooth being severely damaged. Because of such a scenario, surgery may be necessary in order to retrieve the tooth and prepare it for further rehabilitation. Otherwise, a broken tooth can obtain a serious infection, triggering the application of a root canal procedure, which often leads to discomfort.