When Can I Start to Eat Food After My Wisdom Tooth Surgery?

Have you recently gone through or are about to get wisdom tooth surgery at DK Dental Care? In this case, you might be wondering how soon you’ll be able to resume normal activities and a normal diet.

While every person heals differently, it’s important to understand the average wisdom tooth healing timeline and know how to prepare to help your body successfully go through this process.

Keep reading the article to learn more:
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Wisdom Tooth Removal: Average Healing Timeline

You should know that healing after a wisdom tooth removal won’t usually present intense symptoms like pain or swelling.

The first few days often present the most discomfort, after which your symptoms will gradually reduce.

Here’s the average wisdom tooth removal healing timeline:

First 24 hours: You won’t experience any pain right after the surgery as you’ll still be under the effect of the local anesthetic. Once it wears off a few hours later, you can start to feel some pain, and the extraction site may also swell or bleed. This is perfectly normal and not usually a cause for concern.

24-48 hours: Your discomfort can peak during this window, and it’s important to care for the extraction site properly by eating softer foods and avoiding strenuous physical activity;

48 hours–1 week: The extraction site continues to heal, and most patients can go back to their normal diet around 7 days after their extraction.
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What Can You Eat While Healing from Wisdom Tooth Removal?

For the first 2 days or so, you should eat softer foods that don’t require a lot of chewing, such as:

Apple sauce
Yogurt
Mashed potatoes
Cream soups
Ice cream, etc.

When you start feeling better, you can add harder foods back into your diet; however, you shouldn't go straight to hard and chewy foods like steaks or hard bread crusts.

Start with slightly harder foods like pasta or boiled vegetables and gradually introduce harder foods. Be sure to chew on the other side of the mouth and monitor how your body reacts to your diet. If you are experiencing pain or notice mild bleeding, go back to softer foods.

Other tips that can help you support healing at this time include: