Eating Meals After Dental Procedures: How to Maintain a Healthy Diet

Millions of Americans visit their dentists for treatment every year. Everyone’s pain tolerance varies, so depending on the type of procedures and the severity of your dental condition, you may feel some slight to severe pain in the days following your treatment.

This can affect your diet and eating habits. Some studies attribute it to the way dental procedures change the way you taste food, while others blame the pain they feel when they eat during their recovery. Whichever your reason, not eating enough food can result in fatigue and vulnerability to illnesses that can make you feel even worse during recovery.

If you find that you’re unable to eat regularly during your dental recovery, here are some ways to help mitigate the pain and maintain a healthy diet.

Avoid Hard Food

Procedures like installing braces, root canals, or removing your wisdom teeth can make your gums swollen and difficult for you to chew. Because of this, you may find yourself unable to eat certain types of food without feeling a sharp pain when you bit down. So, for the first week of your recovery, you might want to avoid hard foods and stick to a soft food diet.

Avoid hard foods like apples, carrots, hard candies, and tough meats. Switch to foods like soup, soft cheeses, mashed vegetables, and smoothies for the first few days. Avoid frying your meat as this can be tough to chew, especially if overcooked. Consider boiling, steaming, or baking your protein so that they’re softer to chew.

Stay Hydrated

During your recovery, drink plenty of water to stay hydrated. The fluoride in water can strengthen your teeth while keeping your mouth hydrated can reduce the risk of tooth decay. Staying hydrated can also prevent the rest of your body from the side effects of dehydration.

Clean water is always your best bet for staying healthy and hydrated, but other types of drinks can also have benefits. Drinking orange juice with pulp can help you have a stronger immune system to prevent infections during your recovery.Avoid sugary drinks like soft drinksand fruit juices filled with sugars and preservatives.

Avoid Small Food

Avoid small bits of food like nuts and seeds, especially if you’ve had a tooth or wisdom tooth removed. These can get lodged into the hole of your teeth, and you may or may not realize it. It can be difficult to remove and need another trip to your dentist’s office, or it may prevent your gums from healing.

HaveIce Packs and Heat Packs Ready

In case you still feel pain when you eat despite the precautions and taking prescribed or over-the-counter pain medication, it helps to have ice and heat packs ready to help mitigate the pain. It’s important to knowwhich treatment to use for the right symptomto avoid slowing your recovery or making you feel worse.

Ice packs should be used for swelling (a symptom of inflammation) and skin color changes (bruising). Hot compresses, on the other hand, should be used for sore jaws to relax and warm up your muscles as it might be tensing up from your body’s recovery. Whichever compress you use, avoid direct contact with your jaw and cover the compress with a hand towel to reduce the risk of frostbite or burns.

Many people have undergone dental procedures and experienced varying levels of pain during their recovery period. Once the pain recedes, you can return to your daily activities and return to your regular diet. As long as you follow these tips, you don’t have to feel intense pain whenever you eat.