Best Food Post
Wisdom Teeth Removal

I'm often asked "What is the best food post wisdom teeth extraction?". People want to know when they can start eating solid foods, hot foods, or spicy foods again. Your recovery time after any dental surgery will depend on several factors.

For a start, you should be prescribed some pain medication, and you should use an ice pack on the outside of your face, over the extraction site, for 6 to 8 minutes at a time. Your recovery period will also depend on your immune system. You may also be given some anti-inflammatory drugs.

A dentist shows a cone beam computerized tomograph to a female patient on a tablet

Planning wisdom tooth removal

Choosing the best food post wisdom teeth removal is very important, for a number of reasons. Of course, we all have different tastes and preferences for food, but there are some important rules to follow to help the healing process, and avoid getting infection in the socket, and to stay healthy.

We want the tooth socket left behind after the extraction to fill with a blood clot, and gradually heal from there. So we want to avoid dislodging the blood clot, which would leave an empty tooth socket behind, increasing your chances of getting a dry socket.

A dry socket is a common complication after oral surgery. Your dentist or oral surgeon should give you some specific instructions on what to do after any tooth extraction procedure, to reduce the risk of complications, but here are my rules on how to avoid dislodging the blood clot, and ensure fast healing.

The first rule is to NOT rinse vigorously, nor swish water (or any liquid) around your mouth forcefully. If you swish water (or any drink) around the extraction site forcefully, you run a high risk of washing out that critical blood clot in the first 24 hours. BUT on the second day after surgery, you can rinse very gently with some warm salt water

The second rule is to avoid foods that may dislodge the blood clot. You can't follow your normal diet for 7 to 10 days following wisdom teeth surgery. What foods should you avoid? The obvious ones are crunchy foods containing hard food particles.

Food To Avoid Post
Wisdom Teeth Removal

Basically anything such as;

fruits with small pips or seeds, such as raspberries or strawberries.
chewy foods, like a steak.
foods with hard or sharp pieces, like potato chips, nuts or crispbreads.
French fries
Crusty bread
Muesli
Pop corn
acidic foods like lemons, oranges and kiwi fruit

So what types of foods ARE suitable following a tooth extraction?

Best Food Post
Wisdom Teeth Extraction

When I had to get a molar tooth removed in March 2020, I found I was ready to eat something a few hours later, after the numbness from the local anesthetic had worn off. I decided on 2 lightly scrambled eggs with a mashed potato, mixed with a small knob of butter and some salt.

I found this really easy to gently chew - actually I just took small forkfuls from the plate, and used my tongue to break the food up a little. I ate really slowly, and tried to keep the food on the opposite side of my mouth to the extraction socket.

For a little treat as dessert, I had some plain chocolate ice cream - no chocolate chips or nuts in it! The cooling sensation was really nice in my mouth, and again I ate really slowly, just taking a small spoonful at a time.

Those 3 foods are a good choice, especially in the first 48 hours following a tooth extraction. Just scrambled eggs, mashed potato, and some plain ice cream. You don't have to go for liquid foods!

Best Food Post
Wisdom Teeth Extraction

Of course, we all want a bit of variety with our food, and there are other candidates for the best food post wisdom teeth extraction. Good options after a dental procedure involving the removal of third molars (wisdom teeth) include the following;

Breakfast ideas;

Eggs. Eggs can be cooked in several ways;

Scrambled
Boiled
Poached
Omlette or potato tortilla

Other breakfast options;

instant oatmeal, with extra milk to keep it really soft
Greek yogurt
Pancakes

A stack of pancakes on a blue plate, with some blueberries on top

Pancakes can be a good option!

Main Course Ideas;

The items on this list of foods all have a creamy texture.

Here's a list of soft foods that are safe bets after wisdom tooth removal;

Hummous
Guacamole (no chips or nachos!)
Soft cheese, like cottage cheese
Mashed or baked potato with sour cream
Soft pasta
Ramen noodles
Macaroni cheese
Tofu
Baked beans
Soft fish
Parsnip or swede mash
Sweet potatoes
Soups, like vegetable soup (with small, soft vegetables), tomato soups, or chicken noodle soup.
Smooth peanut butter, without any peanut chunks in it.

Desserts;

Ice cream (without any bits - NO choc chips!)
Frozen yogurt
Mashed banana
Pancakes
Jello
Rice pudding
A healthy smoothie with a scoop of protein powder

All the foods listed above are suitable if you are looking for the best food post wisdom teeth extraction. Sticking to a few simple rules will lead to a smoother recovery after wisdom tooth surgery.

I hope this guide to the best food post wisdom tooth extraction is helpful. I will be adding more advice and foods in due course, so please bookmark this page and check back soon for updates!

Amazingly, you can get almost any food delivered to your door from Amazon - especially useful if you cannot get out to the supermarket for whatever reason.

Just click on this link to go to the cheese section of the food and beverage department of Amazon, and then just search for anything else you want from there. You can even do your entire weekly shopping there!