Caring for your dental health right after a wisdom tooth removal is great. You don’t want to fall into a series of complications because of any mistakes. This concern may raise a question in your mind, “how long after wisdom teeth removal can I eat normally?”
As teeth play a great role in helping digest food easily, your concern is very much okay. Surely, you would want to know the safest period to eat after a wisdom tooth removal.
We are going to share all the important information with you today. Read on to find more about how and when you should eat foods if your wisdom teeth were removed recently.
Table of Content
Should You be Serious About Oral Health After Teeth Removal?
Our one-word answer to this question is “yes.” You should be serious about your oral health if your wisdom teeth were removed recently. If you are not, you may fall into tons of complications. Among them, the most common are the following:
Dry socket
A dry socket simply means opening the inner bones of your mouth by dislodging the clot in a tooth. The blood clot in the operated area develops to protect the area by stopping the exits of further bleeding. If you eat without any restrictions, hard foods may interrupt the blood clot.
The operated area may become a dry socket eventually. And a dry socket is horribly painful. You wouldn’t want one as the pain is just intolerable.
Infection
You may also get an infection in the operated area. Although you can develop an infection even if you are extremely cautious, the rule of thumb is to stay cautious. In that way, you can eliminate the possibility of getting an infection in your mouth.
The food particles of tough food and tiny seeds of some fruits may create problems in your operated area. If they get stuck in the tooth hole, it will be problematic to get them out. And if you are not aware, these food particles can even lead you to have an infection in your mouth!
More Time Needed to Heal
Dentists leave a kind of pudding in the operating area so that you can heal quickly without any interference. If you eat any hard food, you may affect the cover of the tooth hole. In that case, you will need more time to heal as food particles will contaminate the operated area.
Immense Pain
We are sure of one thing. Whatever the reason is, if you damage the operated area, you will feel immense pain in your mouth and jaw. The pain may even get transferred to your neck.
We know that you won’t like to have that much pain. That is why we suggest you wait for at least seven days before going for any kind of hard food.
Things to Know About Eating After Wisdom Teeth Removal
You are being cautious to avoid any kind of injury to your operation site. Now you may ask, how long after wisdom teeth removal can I eat normally? Well, the question is completely valid. You can’t wait for an unknown time.
And on the other hand, if you know how long you have to wait, you will be able to motivate yourself. You will cheer yourself to reach that goal.
Generally, you can normally eat after a week if you have a wisdom tooth removal. But the duration may change according to the condition of your operation site.
We will discuss the duration of the waiting period in the following sections in a specific manner.
When Can I Eat Pizza After Wisdom Teeth Removal?
Waiting for a bite in a pizza slice can be hard. We know how difficult it is to control temptation. And we are also not complaining as pizzas are really tasty and are rich in nutrients.
Although the slices of Pizzas are thin (compared to other natural foods), you will still need chewing to eat a slice. And to chew properly, you will need your other teeth around the wisdom teeth. That creates the real problem here.
The food particles of the pizza slice can easily get stuck in the operation site. Surely not a thing you would want to happen. If you have stitches on the site, the food particles can even damage the stitches.
That is why we suggest you wait before going for pizza.
In general, five days are enough to keep your operation site from any clot dislodging. But we suggest you wait for at least seven days before starting to eat pizzas.
How Long After Wisdom Teeth Removal Can I Eat a Burger?
Ah! A big bite to a juicy and spongy burger. What else do you need on earth? Burgers can be fascinating to eat. It can be quite hard to control your temptation to eat a burger. But waiting after a wisdom tooth removal is totally worth it.
Won’t you wait rather than putting yourself into dangers like dry socket, infection, and so on? We think so.
Wait for at least seven days before starting to eat burgers. We know that it is possible for a normal human being to heal the wisdom teeth removal surgery before seven days. But sometimes you may need more time.
For this reason, we are adding 2 or 3 days extra as a safety period.
If you remove multiple wisdom teeth or all of your wisdom teeth, we suggest you wait at least two weeks before eating any foods like burgers.
How Long After Wisdom Teeth Removal Can I Vape?
You may hear one strange instruction from your dentist after the removal of your wisdom teeth. “Don’t drink with a straw.”
You will also find this suggestion on countless web portals and blogs.
The main reason behind this suggestion is to avoid you from sucking and spitting. Sucking and spitting can lead your operation site to dislodge the clot. If you smoke (or vape), you will suck (the air) and eventually dislodge the clot.
When Can I Eat Spicy Food After Wisdom Teeth Removal?
It would be best if you waited at least a week in this case. You may ask what the problem is with eating spicy foods.
Well, the spices may damage your operation site. Have you ever heard anyone applying spices to their damaged body parts? We assume, no. Why don’t people do it? It increases the pain in the damaged area.
Final Thoughts
It can be difficult to wait to have the taste of some foods like burgers or pizzas. You may even find it hard to wait to smoke. But it is always an ideal choice to give time to your body to heal (if needed).
So, what is the exact answer to the question, “how long after wisdom teeth removal can I eat normally?”
Usually, it will be okay to start shifting towards normal food after five days. But why not wait some more days when you can ensure your operation site is fully healed?
FAQs
Can I eat normally 4 days after wisdom teeth removal?
We don’t think it will be a good idea to eat normally 4 days after wisdom teeth removal. You should wait more than four days, at least seven, to ensure extra safety.
But if you have problems eating soft foods, you should consult with your dentist first. If he (or she) gives a green signal, you can eat after 4 days.
Is the third day the worst after wisdom teeth removal?
Normally swelling builds in the period of the first 2-3 days. And it lasts for the next two days. That means the pain will be worst on the third to fifth day.
When can I stop worrying about dry sockets?
You should be okay after five days. If you give it enough chances in the first five days, the operation site will most likely be healed. Clot dislodging won’t happen after five days if everything remains normal.
But for extra safety, you can wait 7 days to be super sure to stop worrying about a dry socket.
Is Rice okay to eat after wisdom teeth removal?
Rice may look like a soft food at first glance. But we consider only liquid foods (foods that don’t need chewing) as soft foods. As you will need to chew Rice, you have to wait to give your operation site an uninterrupted healing time.
So, no. It is not okay to eat Rice after wisdom teeth removal.
