What can I eat following an extraction?

Immediately following an extraction don’t eat anything. If you are still numb you will only hurt yourself. If you insist on consuming some calories then stick with a liquid diet until the feeling returns. Once the feeling returns then you may cautiously eat a soft diet.

A soft diet consists of any food you can mush or separate with your fingers. It also means nothing with seeds, nuts or any particle that will not easily dissolve or can be rinsed away. If you need to hold it with you hands to bite off a piece of food that’s probably not a good idea.

You just had a tooth extracted and now you have a hole in your jaw. That hole needs to fill up with a blood clot and form a plug to allow healing. If the extraction involved an upper tooth it’s unlikely to be a problem. Most humans eat sitting up or standing. Any food that enters the hole with likely fall out of the hole the same way due to simple gravity. Lower extractions are another story. The further back in your mouth the more likely pieces of food will collect and be deposited into the hole. Food in an extraction site is equivalent to having a splinter in your finger. If not removed it will likely get infected.

So avoid popcorn, peanuts and seeds. Stick with high protein shakes, scrambled eggs, yogurt and similar soft foods.  If in doubt you can always call Dr. Gottlieb for some healthy suggestions.