Your wisdom teeth are the last set of molars to come in. For many people, they won’t start to feel the beginnings of the teeth until early adulthood or their late teen years. The set of four wide teeth are known for coming in impacted, crookedly, or not at all. Most people don’t have room for their wisdom teeth and therefore get them removed.
Depending on the surgery, how impacted your teeth are, and if you are getting all four removed, the recovery process can look different. Across the board, one constant to focus on is managing a healthy and soft diet to best aid the healing process of your mouth and gums. With a professional oral surgeon from Union City Oral Surgery Group by your side, you are looking at quicker and less painful recovery times. To ensure you are following a diet that complements this, we have put together a quick guide to follow after your extraction.
3 Tips for Managing Your Diet Following Your Wisdom Tooth Extraction
After your tooth has been extracted, you are looking at the possibility of up to four wounds to keep clean, healthy, and free of bacteria. The extraction sites will be easy targets for excess food to get stuck in, which can cause infection. To stay clear of any complications and see a smooth and quick recovery, follow these three dieting tips after your wisdom teeth extraction:
Avoid Chewing
This doesn’t mean avoid chewing completely, but it does mean avoiding anything that you need to really break down before swallowing. Choosing foods that are already partially broken down, either due to putting them in a blender or because they are already soft, will be preferable.
For example, foods like soup, mashed potatoes, peas, yogurts, ice cream, and applesauce are all easily swallowed without requiring strenuous amounts of chewing. After a week or so, you will be able to begin to incorporate more solid foods into your diet, including pastas, oatmeal, and eggs.
Get Your Nutrients In
While living off of ice cream sounds like a nice way to spend a week, the carton of mint chocolate chip isn’t going to give your body the nutrients it needs to recover. Undergoing an extraction leaves an empty socket in your gum that your body works overtime to heal. In order to do so properly, you must provide your body with essential nutrients.
A good way to do so when it is too painful to chew is through a smoothie. You can take food that is too tough to bite through now and blend it with water, milk, or even some juice. Fruits like apples, bananas, kiwi, and blueberries are all nutrient-dense foods that will blend into a drinkable smoothie for consumption. Other good ingredients to consider are dark, leafy greens and fatty nut butter.
However, as your sockets are healing, do not drink out of a straw, as the suction can cause dry socket. This is a condition that results in the blood clot in your socket that is protecting your wound from becoming dislodged and exposing your bone and nerves to the air.
No Coffee or Alcohol
For the first three to five days after your surgery, your surgeon will advise you to stick away from anything containing large amounts of acid, like hot sauces, citrus, coffee, and alcohol. The acid can irritate the area and lead to complications.
Similarly, the temperature of the coffee can cause dry socket and prevent your wound from healing properly.
Speak to a Dedicated Oral Surgeon Today
For a detailed look at the wisdom tooth extraction process, you can speak to a qualified oral surgeon from Union City Oral Surgery Group today. Our team of oral and maxillofacial surgeons have devoted their careers to working with state-of-the-art technology and utilizing minimally-invasive techniques. We are proud to offer our clients quick, painless, and cost-effective services.
To schedule a consultation today, please call (201) 601-9262 or use our contact form.
