Recently, I had a wisdom tooth removed at the ripe ole’ age of 29. So, as you can imagine, I had to put up with a soft food diet for a while… and so did the rest of my family, haha!

Fortunately, both of my upper wisdom teeth are fully encased in bone. Additionally, one on the bottom never developed, so I only had one removed. But, if you know me, you’ll know that I cannot handle soft bland food all the time. It’s hard to think of a variety of safe food options for post-surgery recovery. So, I wanted to make a list of what I ate after my surgery in hopes that it could help others. However, let me begin with a couple small disclaimers and a note about what NOT to do after your wisdom tooth surgery.

Disclaimers

First and foremost, many of the images on this post are free use images from Pexels.com, other free use sources, or the source has been cited within the post. Secondly, I am not a doctor. These are not my professional opinions, but rather, my experiences. The ideas presented in this post are based on what I was told by my own oral surgeon, my personal recovery experience, as well as other resources I found online. If you have any questions or concerns, please consult your oral surgeon or dentist for their professional advice regarding your individual circumstances.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s discuss the dos and don’ts of your recovery.

What You Absolutely SHOULD Do:

• Remove gauze after 30 minutes or when the bleeding has significantly reduced. If your mouth still looks like you’re fresh off the set of a Saw movie, replace the gauze and clamp down hard, replacing with new gauze every 30 minutes. If after an hour or so it still hasn’t stopped, wet down a bag of black tea and bite down on that because the tannins in the tea can help stop the bleeding. I recommend Teatulia because their bags are 100% staple and tag free. However, “significantly reduced” is not the same as “bleeding has fully stopped.” If blood is not actually gushing from your face-hole when you remove the gauze, you likely don’t need it anymore. Some light bleeding is 100% normal for the first couple days and doesn’t require gauze. If your socket is a geyser? That’s a problem. Seek medical assistance if you can’t get the bleeding under control.
• Stay on top of pain management. If you don’t, it’ll suck. We didn’t have my prescription medication on hand before we got home, so I started to feel everything about 30-40 minutes after my procedure when my face was no longer numb. (I specifically requested short acting anesthetic without epinephrine. This will not be your experience if your dentist is using an anesthetic containing epinephrine which lasts longer by a few hours.)
• Ice your face. Almost everything I have read online says you should ice your face for 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off for the first 48-72 hours. But, it can be REALLY hard on your arms and shoulders to hold ice on your face all the time. I highly recommend purchasing one of these gel freeze packs that are specifically made to stay on your face after wisdom tooth removal. This was a life saver.
• Sleep in an upright or elevated position. This is critical in helping to keep swelling to a minimum. This is most important for the first three days when swelling peaks. If you have one available, I recommend sleeping in a recliner as this will be the most comfortable solution. If not, I purchased this multi-position bed wedge which was fairly comfortable, though a bit more firm than I prefer. Another option is purchasing a bed wedge to go under your mattress. This is more comfortable in my opinion than the bed wedge I purchased. Stacking up your pillows is not guaranteed to give you the elevation you need, so it’s recommended to use one of these items instead.

• Brush your teeth beginning the day after surgery (or when you feel comfortable, just not the day of surgery). I highly recommend using a kid’s toothpaste for the first few days because the mint from my normal toothpaste was HIGHLY irritating to my socket. I used Tanner’s Tasty Paste Chocolate Flavor. When you rinse your mouth, make sure you just roll your head around gently and let the water fall out of your mouth without actually spitting. Repeat until your mouth no longer has toothpaste residue. Any vigorous swishing or spitting can cause issues, especially the first few days. I’ll talk about this more below.
• On the 3rd day, I was told to begin rinsing my mouth with 1/2 tsp of salt dissolved in 8 oz of warm water. Follow the same advice above regarding swishing and spitting though.
• Buy a good quality blender. For the first few days, you’re only going to be allowed to have blended soups, smoothies, milkshakes, etc. Our Ninja blender was honestly a godsend during those first few days. Our old crappy blender would NOT have gotten things to the consistency I needed in order to safely eat after surgery. This is the one time I’ll tell you to splurge on the expensive blender. If you’re totally against this idea, then at the very least I would recommend a good quality immersion hand blender.
• Treat yourself for going through with your surgery! Because I knew I was going to be having a TON of soup and smoothies, I bought myself this special 24 oz Friends soup mug. My surgery was REALLY hard for me to go through with given my previous traumas from surgery and dental work, but I was proud of myself and felt I deserved to buy myself something.

Bad Ideas After Wisdom Tooth Removal

This list is made up of things you absolutely should avoid during the first week or so of recovery. These things can either dislodge your clot, cause dry sockets (OW!!!!), cause irritation, or can cause food to get stuck in your socket.

Actions or Motions to Avoid

• Straws or sucking motions – Anything that can create pressure in your mouth can pull your clot out. This includes straws, cigarettes, slurping soup, etc. This will create a painful condition called dry socket. Ow. My surgeon recommended no straws or sucking motions for 3 days, but others recommend not using them for a week or more.
• Swishing – Any vigorous swishing or gargling of mouthwash or water in the mouth can dislodge your clot. Gently roll your head around and let the water gently slosh around your mouth. My surgeon told me not to forcefully swish anything in my mouth for at least a week, but absolutely no mouthwash containing alcohol for a month.
• Spitting – Spitting causes force in your mouth which can dislodge your clot. Let water from salt water rinses and teeth brushing fall out of your mouth without any force. This was also discouraged for a week.
• Exercise/ Bending/ Lifting – Exercise and bending and lifting can all dislodge your clot. The surgeon told me not to lift my two year old for at least 5-7 days.
• Sneezing, coughing or blowing nose – I had my wisdom tooth removed during allergy season. I’m allergic to freaking everything. This was SO hard. I know this sounds super wrong to do during covid times, but if you need to sneeze, cough or blow your nose, you MUST make sure your mouth stays open. You know when you sneeze and your ears pop? That’s because of pressure. That same pressure can force your clots out and leave you with dry socket.

Foods and Drinks to Avoid

• Carbonated drinks – This means for the first couple days, you should avoid soda. Most dental websites say no soda for 2-3 days after surgery, which is also what my surgeon told me. The bubbles in the carbonation can disturb the clot and cause irritation. I didn’t have carbonated drinks for around 5 days just to be safe.
• Anything crunchy – This means no chips, nuts, salads, raw veggies, apples, granola, fried food, etc. Particles can break off into your socket or cause irritation because your mouth will likely be too sore.
• Rice – Rice can lodge itself in the socket. I learned this the hard way on day 12 and that was after I had been approved to eat it on day 7! Fried rice got stuck in my socket and didn’t come out for around 5 hours. Imagine that happening on day 2 or 3. Just don’t do it!
• Herbs or seasonings that don’t easily dissolve – These can ALSO lodge in your socket. You know when you have pepper in your teeth? You should avoid anything that won’t dissolve on its own. This means yes, black pepper, Italian seasoning, rosemary, thyme, parsley, oregano, etc. Anything that leaves visible flakes in your food or teeth is probably not a good idea.
• Anything with seeds – Yes, you’re able to have smoothies or milkshakes, but you should avoid using fruits with seeds such as raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, etc. You guessed it. It’s because seeds can get stuck in your socket. Also, avoid popcorn as the kernels can get stuck as well.
• Acidic foods – For the first couple days, it’s best to avoid anything acidic because these can really irritate your fresh surgical site. This means for the first couple days, your smoothies and soups should be free of pineapple, oranges, lemon, tomato, and possibly chocolate. I know chocolate is a huge source of acid reflux for me, so I definitely made sure to avoid it. However, the very first day I had an orange smoothie, so whoops, haha!
• Spicy foods – Similarly to acidic foods, spicy foods can irritate the surgical site. This means no spicy peppers in your soup, hot sauce, etc.

General Diet Plan Following Wisdom Tooth Surgery

This is a general guide in terms of how I paced myself with food after my wisdom tooth surgery. But, it’s also very important to listen to your body. You may feel ready to move onto semi-solids by day two, or you could only want soup until day 7. But here is a general guideline:

Day of Surgery and Next Day or Two

During this stage, you’re most likely only going to want (and be allowed) to have liquid foods. This means nothing but pureed soups, smoothies, milkshakes, yogurt, pudding, applesauce, etc. Some great soup options are discussed below, but also you could try pumpkin soup, cauliflower cheese soup, sweet potato soup, coconut curry soup, etc. The key though is you don’t want to eat anything that requires chewing at all and no chunks of fruit or seeds in yogurt, smoothies or milkshakes. Ensure shakes or Bolthouse Farms drinks are a great meal replacement option that also have lots of vitamins and minerals. Also, don’t forget that you should only be using a spoon and no straws or slurping!

Day 3-4 After Wisdom Tooth Surgery

During this stage, you can still have everything from the first couple days, again with no straws or slurping, but you can also start introducing foods that are a bit more firm. This is when I ate mashed potatoes and gravy, cottage cheese, soft pasta such as mac and cheese, mashed or sliced bananas, mashed cauliflower, etc. Again, make sure there aren’t any hard-to-breakdown herbs or spices like oregano, rosemary, basil, pepper, etc. White pepper is fine. You still want to avoid foods that require a lot of chewing though.

Day 5-7 After Surgery

Again, you can still have everything listed above, but you can also start introducing foods that are easy to chew at this stage or foods that can be cut into small bites and swallowed. I was told by my surgeon that things such as meatloaf, Salisbury steaks, flaky fish, soft pancakes, scrambled eggs, etc. were all fine to have. But, it’s important to listen to your body. If you’re still very sore or it hurts to chew, it may be better to stick to mashed potatoes and soft cooked pasta.

Day 8-11 After Wisdom Tooth Surgery

At this point you should be mostly feeling back to normal, but I personally still preferred to eat soft-ish foods just to be safe since dry socket can be an issue even at the 10 day mark. I would avoid overly crunchy, chewy or hard foods, but most solids should be okay provided you feel comfortable eating them. Risotto, chili, enchiladas, meatloaf, etc. are all great options for this stage of recovery!

Day 12-14 After Surgery

Most people are able to resume a fully normal diet at this point. However, your surgeon will give you a small irrigation syringe to flush any food particles out of your healing socket.

Post Surgery Meal Plan: What I Actually Ate for Two Weeks

Day of Wisdom Tooth Surgery and Day 2

Day of Surgery:

• Breakfast: None – Since I went under general anesthesia and was under sedation medications, I was not allowed to eat until after surgery. Check with your oral surgeon to see what they recommend.
• Lunch: Plain cheesecake filling (no crust) with whipped cream, cheese omelet, and Jamba Juice using a spoon – In order to avoid anything with seeds, I ordered the Orange Dream Machine. Since I knew I wouldn’t be eating much, I also added non-fat vanilla frozen yogurt and whey protein. And for an added immune system boost, I added their daily vitamin zinc boost. Lastly, for my caffeine intake, I added their 3G energy boost.
• Dinner: I made this absolutely AMAZING creamy tumeric, potato and carrot soup. This was so good that my husband and I both had seconds and then we made it again the next day, haha! I ended up having it for like 3 days of recovery. So. Freaking. Good.

Day 2:

• Breakfast: Peanut Butter and Jelly Smoothie – This was packed with protein and nutrients which are vital for healing! I posted the recipe here on my instagram. (Make sure to follow me there if you don’t already!)
• Lunch: Leftover soup
• Dinner: Pasta Roni cup (don’t use the provided seasoning because of the herbs) seasoned with butter, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt, and white pepper AND Kraft Easy Mac with added milk and butter followed by soft buttered bread with the crusts cut off. – I took VERY small nibbles of the bread so that I could basically swallow each bite without chewing. I let the pasta slide to the back of my mouth without chewing also.

Day 3 and 4 Post Surgery

Day 3:

• Breakfast: Jello brand homemade banana pudding with sliced bananas and whipped cream
• Lunch: Leftover soup and small curd cottage cheese
• Dinner: I made a soup creation, haha! I took Pacific Foods brand roasted red pepper and tomato soup and combined it with Pasta Roni (yet again omitting the seasonings) and chopped Kirkland Brand Italian style meatballs. Since they’re fully cooked, I heated the meatballs in the microwave because I find that baking them, they end up more crispy and would have been harder to eat. Lastly, I stirred in some parmesan cheese. This was a very flavorful and easy dinner.

Day 4:

• Breakfast: Plain Eggo waffle with Bolthouse Farms vanilla chai shake and Oikos Pro strawberry flavored yogurt. This yogurt does not have chunks of fruit but it is fairly thick, so I wouldn’t recommend it to start with on day one. For day one, I would get a thinner yogurt, such as Yoplait.
• Lunch: Ensure shake and Annie’s mac and cheese. I don’t recommend buying the shells and cheese variety as sometimes the shells can suction themselves to the inside of your mouth.
• Dinner: Banquet brand Salisbury steaks cut into bite size pieces with mashed potatoes and gravy

Day 5 and 6 Post Wisdom Tooth Surgery

Day 5:

• Breakfast: Chocolate Banana Smoothie with Avocado – This is my recipe here at Growing Up Garlicky! The avocado is so mild that you can’t taste it, but it adds a ton of healthy fats and nutrients to this smoothie.
• Lunch: Spaghettios with Meatballs with soft buttered bread, crusts cut off – This meal is straight out of my childhood! My absolute favorite brands for super soft bread are the Naked brand potato bread or the Nature’s Own brand brioche. Do not use bread with nuts or seeds.
• Dinner: Monterrey jack cheese omelet, chocolate chip pancakes soaked in butter and syrup cut into bite sized pieces, turkey sausage patties cut into bite sized pieces

Day 6:

• Breakfast: Vanilla pudding, banana slices, and Eggo waffle
• Lunch: Banquet Salisbury steaks with mashed potatoes and gravy.
• Dinner: Omelets, waffles and sausage patties

Day 7-8 Post Surgery

Day 7: After lunch on this day, my oral surgeon approved me to resume a normal diet! Yay!

• Breakfast: French toast with fried eggs
• Lunch: More of my soup creation using pasta roni, meatballs and roasted red pepper and tomato soup.
• Dinner: Beef tamales with refried beans, sour cream and guacamole – This meal would also be great on day 3 or 4 after surgery!
• 4th Meal – I ordered a burger from Sonic to celebrate, haha!

Day 8:

• Breakfast: Pineapple Coconut Smoothie from Purely Kaylie (pictured above. I do not own this picture. This picture is from Purely Kaylie’s website.)
• Lunch: Annie’s mac and cheese and Foster Farms corn dogs
• Dinner: My recipe for A1 meatloaf (coming soon), loaded mashed potatoes and buttered corn

Day 9 and 10 Post Wisdom Tooth Surgery

Day 9:

• Breakfast: Cottage cheese with banana with Entenmann’s chocolate chip mini muffins
• Lunch: Open faced meatloaf sandwiches with mashed potatoes
• Dinner: Italian shredded pot roast with parmesan risotto

Day 10:

• Breakfast: Pineapple Orange Smoothie from Two Healthy Kitchens (Pictured above. I do not own this picture. This image is from Two Healthy Kitchens’ website.)
• Lunch: Leftover shredded pot roast with risotto
• Dinner: Jack in the Box – I had a burger, fries, and eggrolls. I was pretty much eating 100% normally at this point.

Day 11 and 12 Post Surgery

(Sorry, I forgot to take pictures!)

Day 11:

• Breakfast: I didn’t have breakfast. I was busy getting ready for my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to chat with Tim Curry. Yes, THE Tim Curry. Pennywise, Frank-N-Furter, THAT Tim Curry. Such a cool experience that I’m hoping to talk about in another post!
• Lunch: Costco Italian meatballs with delicious Pasta Prima spinach and mozzarella raviolis.
• Dinner: English muffin, sausage patties, country gravy, eggs, and hashbrowns

Day 12:

• Breakfast: Typically, I don’t have breakfast except for on Saturday. So, since I was back to eating normally, I didn’t have breakfast.
• Lunch: Annie’s brand white cheddar shells and cheese with tuna salad sandwiches
• Dinner: Takeout Chinese food. Even though the surgeon said I could eat normally, the fried rice traveled into my socket and I had to flush it REALLY well. It was STUCK in there. Thankfully I got it out.

Day 13 and 14 Post Wisdom Tooth Surgery

Day 13:

• Breakfast: None
• Lunch: Tuna salad sandwiches with veggie straws and pudding
• Dinner: Leftover Chinese takeout

Day 14:

• Breakfast: None
• Lunch: Loaded baked potatoes topped with broccoli cheddar soup, cheese, green onion, bacon bits, and sour cream
• Dinner: White Bean Sausage Chili from Let’s Dish Recipes paired with my recipe for garlic butter yeast rolls. (White Bean Sausage Chili pictured above. I do not own this image. This picture is from Let’s Dish Recipes’ website.)

Snacks, snacks, and more snacks

These are all great ideas for snacks throughout the duration of the first week of healing. After the first week, you can basically have anything that isn’t super crunchy, sticky/ chewy, or hard. After two weeks, you should be good to go.

1. Ensure shakes
2. Bolthouse Farms or Naked shakes and smoothies
3. Pudding
4. Probiotic yogurt drinks- I bought Chobani Probiotic Yogurt drinks since I was on antibiotics.
5. Blended yogurt cups- no yogurt with chunks of fruit
6. Talenti gelato- make sure there aren’t any cookie crumbles or anything of that sort. I had the vanilla caramel swirl and the sea salt caramel gelato flavors.
7. Jello cups – the rest of my family doesn’t like Jello, so I got individual cups so I wouldn’t be stuck eating a whole bowl of Jello to myself, haha!
8. Sorbets – these are a great alternative to ice cream if you’re dairy-free! Just don’t do lemon sorbet because I did and it was WAY too acidic for my healing mouth. *cringe*
9. Ice cream and sherbet – I got a big container of rainbow sherbet as well as a pint of Cotton Candy flavored Basket Robbins ice cream.
10. Moist cakes, cheesecakes or donuts – Obviously you can’t have seedy fruit fillings or toppings like raspberry or strawberry, but we bought a Boston cream filled cake that was such a nice change from pudding and ice cream. It was tender, fluffy and perfect while I was healing around day 4 or 5. We also bought a whipped cheesecake from Edward’s.

11. Root beer floats or orange creamsicle floats – These are great to change things up and maybe have a movie night after the first few days when you’re feeling a bit better and when you’re allowed to have carbonated drinks again.
12. Milkshakes – just make sure there are no nuts, cookie crumbles or seeds! Also, use a spoon instead of a straw.
13. Bananas – for the first few days, mashed bananas may be a better idea, then you can try sliced, then whole.
14. Diced fruit cups – try to swallow without chewing. Usually canned fruit or fruit in fruit cups is easy to swallow.
15. Whipped smooth guacamole or avocado slices – If you puree guacamole super smoothly, you can easily just eat it with a spoon. You could also just eat plain avocado too! After the first few days, you may even be able to have avocado toast that’s been lightly toasted.
16. Hummus – Make sure this is super creamy and smooth, but hummus is so flavorful and will be a welcomed savory change from all of the sweets they tell you to eat.
17. Applesauce or fruit/veggie purees – I’m not a huge fan of applesauce, but this is a great option for those who haven’t had it in a long time.
18. Eggs – Scrambled eggs or omelets are SO easy to make and are the perfect snack after surgery.
19. Laughing Cow or Boursin cheese – these cheeses are so soft and creamy. They’re perfect for snacking on.
20. Soft steamed or mashed or pureed veggies – I personally do not like soft steamed veggies, but if you’re craving vegetables, this may be an good snack option for you! Another option is vegetable purees such as purple cauliflower, pea, butternut squash, etc. Just think, Gordon Ramsay would probably be impressed with your dish if you finish it off with a vibrant splash of pureed veggies! Hone your inner Master Chef skills.

To Conclude:

I know that trying to figure out your diet plan after surgery can be incredibly stressful and overwhelming. So, I hope that this resource helps you feel more prepared and gives you more ideas that maybe you hadn’t thought of. Your recovery does not need to be boring and bland. This is a great time to indulge on sweets and comfort foods that maybe you haven’t had in a while or to branch out and try new things.

Which meal sounds like one you’d like to try during recovery? Or, if you’ve already had wisdom tooth surgery, what was your go-to meal? Let me know in the comments below! Also, if you found this post helpful, make sure you subscribe or you can feel free to check out any of my recipes, parenting ideas, or fun and more posts. I’ve also linked several posts below that you may find useful! Thanks everyone for reading! Good luck!

Meal Planning: Why and How?

Butterscotch Banana Smoothie