How Long After Tooth Extraction Can I Eat Solid Food
Dentists recommend taking proper oral care after tooth extraction.
Before having a tooth extraction, you must thoroughly discuss the extraction procedure with your oral surgeon.
Ask your dentist to share all the aftercare instructions with you so you can quickly recover after the tooth extraction.
That is, eating any harmful or solid foods can contribute to side effects on the extraction site.
Neglecting the important precautions may lead to injury to your gums which could then lead to severe pain on the extracted site.
Therefore, it is crucial to keep post-extraction precautions in mind to be safe from any possible troubles.
How Long After Tooth Extraction Can I Eat Solid?
So the question is how long after tooth extraction can I eat solid foods?
Here’s the simple answer:
Dentists and orthodontic surgeons recommend avoiding solid foods for at least 24 – 48 hours, depending on the pain you feel after the tooth extraction.
You may also need to avoid solid foods for more than two days if your pain is not decreasing.
At this time, you should give a rest to your swollen and painful gums and avoid solid and crispy foods to prevent problems in the tooth extracted site.
What To Eat After Tooth Extraction?
So, if solid foods are not allowed, then what should you eat after tooth extraction?
Well, during the first 12 hours, you can take cold foods like:
- Ice-cream
- Applesauce
- Yogurt
- Custard
- Jelly
- And other soft foods.
Whereas, after 12 – 20 hours, you can try:
- Scrambled eggs
- Mashed potatoes
- Bananas
- Oatmeal
- Lukewarm Soups (Not too spicy, not too hot & without large pieces of meat)
What Not To Eat After Tooth Extraction?
Generally, tooth extraction patients are recommended not to consume soda, alcoholic beverages, or coffee for at least 24 hours following oral surgery.
For about a week, it is advised to avoid the following foods:
- Biscuits
- Chocolates
- Chewing gum
- Chips
- Burgers
- Nuts
- Popcorn
- And other hard foods that may irritate your extraction site.
What can I eat on day four after the tooth extraction?
Consuming soft and semi-soft foods within two days after the teeth extraction is fine.
On day four, you can take the cream of wheat, ice-cream, and oatmeal.
You can continue taking daily life foods if you don’t feel any oral complaint after four days.
How To Eat After Tooth Extraction?
The questions might sound weird, but you should eat differently after tooth extraction.
It is advised to chew only on the opposite side of your mouth from the extraction area.
Even if you eat with the wrong side by mistake, don’t use your fingers or tongue over the gums to remove the food items; instead, rinse your mouth to remove food particles from the affected site.
Can You Drink Using Straw After Tooth Removal?
You may think that using a straw after tooth removal is normal, but that’s prohibited.
That’s because the suction of the straw can open the blood clot and increase the duration of your healing time.
What’s more, the pressure you have to handle to pull the liquids inside your mouth will hurt the extraction site and may cause severe pain, swelling, and other injuries.
For at least 48 hours, use only a glass when taking any drink after the tooth removal.
How Long Does Pain Last after Tooth Extraction?
That’s also of the most asked questions that are asked after tooth extraction.
The pain lasts for a minimum of 24 hours after the tooth removal.
However, if not taken precautions, the pain can go severe for more than four days.
In that case, you can take anti-inflammatory medication like ibuprofen to reduce the pain.
Why shouldn’t you eat solid food just after tooth extraction?
When your tooth is removed, the extracted site and your gums get swell, which cannot be healed before 24 to 48 hours.
You can feel irritations, burning, swelling, and pain if you eat solid food just after tooth extraction.
In that condition, eating solid and hot foods can seriously hurt your gums.
When can I eat hot food after tooth extraction?
Hot and spicy foods are also prohibited after tooth extraction.
Dentists recommend eating warm foods only after 24 – 48 hours of extraction.
However, for extremely hot foods like soup, coffee, and tea, you should wait for a couple of days to avoid severe damage to your gums.
Can I eat bread after tooth extraction?
Bread, if it is soft and is consumed with milk, is okay after tooth extraction.
But, you can’t enjoy toast, muffins, bagels, and crusty bread during the first few days of tooth extraction.
Can I eat rice after tooth extraction?
Cooked rice is a soft food; however, it is still advised to avoid them on the first day of tooth extraction because rice may get stuck in the extraction site, which may irritate your gums later.
However, you can take less salty & less hot rice porridge, suitable food after tooth extraction.
How long after tooth extraction can I eat chips?
Crispy chips like Lays, Pringles are incredibly harmful to the tooth extraction site, and just like the rice, these hard chips can easily get stuck in your gums and cause severe pain and even injuries.
You should also not try to eat those crispy foods from the other sides of your mouth within a few days of extraction.
How to care for your child after a Tooth Extraction?
Tooth extraction is getting pretty common as the passage of every single day for adults and kids, but parents must know how to take better care of their child after the extraction to ensure their comfort and proper healing.
- On the first day of extraction, make sure your child drinks plenty of liquids, and only consume soft foods.
- If your child’s mouth is numb, you will have to prevent them from biting their tongue or cheek.
- Children should only be given drinks and liquid foods until the numbness subsides.
- Give a cold compress to their cheeks for about 20 minutes at a time. Don’t overuse this tip, or it may cause frostbite.
- Rinse their mouth gently with warm, salted water to prevent infection.
- Avoid them using beakers, sippy cups, or plastic nipples of milk bottles.
- Guide them not to use straw or any of the prevented food items in the school.
Precautions to follow after a Tooth Extraction
Instead of only avoiding solid foods, you should follow other things after tooth extraction as well.
And here they are:
DO’s
- Rest: Give yourself a decent amount of rest after tooth extraction. Don’t exercise or do excessive activities for at least 24 hours. When you are in bed, your head should be in a slightly upright position on the pillow.
- Let the wound clot: Allow the clot to form on the tooth extraction site. After the procedure, your orthodontic expert will provide you with a piece of gauze to bite on near the extraction site. Try to bite down and let it sit for at least 1 hour afterward. That will help put pressure on the wound and let it stop bleeding. But, make sure you don’t chew on gauze.
- Apply ice packs: Apply an ice pack on the side of your face where extraction was performed since that helps reduce swelling. While simple extraction, swelling doesn’t happen. Apply ice packs for 15 minutes.
- Rinse frequently: Take some cold water in your mouth, and rinse thoroughly. Try to reach the water to the extraction site. That may help lower the swelling and reduce the pain after tooth extraction.
DONT’s
- Don’t smoke: Keep your mouth away from cigarettes for at least 48 hours after tooth extraction. The toxic chemicals in the smoke can affect the clot and increase the chances of developing a dry socket.
- Don’t brush: For at least 24 hours of standard tooth extraction, avoid brushing the extracted site. Instead, rinse your mouth using salt water to clean the area of the extraction.
The Bottom Line
Tooth removal is pretty common these days; however, we must follow the necessary precautions after the post-extraction.
Things like what to eat and what to avoid should be kept in mind to prevent injuries to the extraction site.
Thus, the information regarding the tooth extraction ends here; we hope you’ve got answers to most of the questions that previously were in your mind, particularly, how long after tooth extraction you can eat solid food.
