My girlfriend had her wisdom teeth taken out (all four) and is now an in pain puffy faced chipmunk. I read over a few of the wisdom teeth threads and she seems to be in the “having a horrible week and in pain the whole time” experiences with it. That being said she does need to eat at some point and the whole teeth being out thing makes most whole foods a no go.
From all of your experiences or maybe just general tastes what are the best liquid or whole foods? Recipes much appreciated if applicable!
First of all, she probably has instructions from the dentist. Have her pay particular attention to the “No smoking or using straws” line. She absolutely does not want a dry socket.
If I have dental work, especially an extraction, I rely on Instant Breakfast or Slimfast, as they at least have fairly complete nutrition. Any soup or stew is good, too, as long as it’s not so hot that it will burn the mouth. Sometimes I will add some brown rice or lentils to the soup, in order to get some fiber. Mac’n’cheese, with or without hot dog bits, is yummy and satisfying. A nice baked potato is good. And yes, pudding is good, as long as it’s not pistachio. Not that I don’t like pistachio pudding, but a dental patient doesn’t need the pistachio bits.
I just had some surgery on my tongue and was on a non-solid diet for a week or so.
Milkshakes.
Warm (not hot) broth and tea.
Very soft bread with appropriate soft spread - butter or hummus. Dip in warm broth to make it even softer.
Cookies that will soften easily when dunked in mug o’ tea - Nilla wafers, graham crackers (without the granulated sugar on top), even ginger snaps. Dunk until they just about dissolve in your mouth.
Apple sauce.
Pudding.
That was pretty much my diet for a while. It was hard getting enough calories so I went through a lot of milkshakes and bread/butter. I still lost a lot of weight.
My guilty pleasure when I had my last root canal was canned ravioli. Yeah, I know. But it does provide some protein and carbs.
In addition to what others have mentioned, I consumed smoothies (gets some fruit or veggies and a little dairy in there), mashed up bananas, mangos, strawberries, etc , baked sweet potatoes or winter squash (or squash soup, nom, nom) and once cold is tolerated, popscicles or ice cream.
If you absolutely must eat this stuff (and it’s one of my guilty pleasures too) then put some shredded Italian cheese on it. Mozzarella, provolone, whatever you have. Also a little garlic powder or chives is good.
Dammit, now I want some, and I really shouldn’t have it.
When I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth out, I lived on applesauce, pureed soups, and frozen yogurt/ice cream.
I was on pain meds that required food, or otherwise I would’ve skipped eating altogether; you never realize how closely tied your MOUTH is to your appetite til you’re there. If it hurts to eat/if your mouth is sensitive/if the whole experience isn’t normal and pleasant…you’ll be surprised how much you lose any kind of normal hunger pangs.
After about five days I tried to eat some Rice Chex…one of my favorites, and soaked in milk for way long enough for them to turn to mush…and I still gave up after about four bites. It was just too much trouble to “be careful” and too much work to try.
Not eating a whole lot won’t kill your GF…in her shoes, I viewed food as medicine, and ate just enough to “get through it.” My mom would make potato cheese soup and broccoli cheese soup, and then throw them in the blender so they were easy to swallow…and while I ate enough of them to survive, it took me years to eat them again. And even as much as I tried to eat, I lost almost ten pounds in about a week.
Ice cream and yogurt and frozen yogurt are really the easiest things to eat; it’s sustenance and calories without any pain or trouble or lots of annoying “irrigating” of the holes with saline after you eat.
As odd as it sounds, don’t let her “gorge” on a flavor she really loves (whether it’s ice cream or yogurt or soup or whatever) because–at least for me–it will be a VERY long time, if ever, that she likes that flavor again. If X is all you can eat, you’ll hate X for a very long time once you can eat Y and Z.
I miss my mom’s broccoli cheese soup, but I will always associate with “icky painful post-surgery” stuff.
After a week of pudding and milkshakes and stuff, my mom ran to Applebee’s and got me some French onion soup and a baked potato and it was the most delicious thing I have ever in my life eaten. (Do not attempt to repeat by going there while not in terrible wisdom tooth agony - results will disappoint.)
If you’re making smoothies, you may want to get some metamucil or similar and toss a half teaspoon in once or twice a day. Especially if she’s on pain meds, things will slooowww down in the nether regions anyway. Fiber is God’s traffic cop, keeping things moving.
If she’s like me when I got mine out, all the suggestions of pasta & oatmeal, and anything that she has to chew at all will not work until she’s at least two weeks out from surgery.
I lived on Ben & Jerry’s Purple Passion Sorbet (which they don’t make anymore) for two weeks, basically. Plus yogurt (Greek style has more protein than regular, and it’s delicious) & sweet potatoes cooked until they were really soft.
I took a look at that after hearing about it on the Dope and one individual container has 27 grams of fat! How is that even possible? Maybe they’re not all like that??
You can get lowfat & nonfat, which still have a lot of protein but far fewer calories.
And not all the regular plain ones have that much fat. Trader Joe’s brand full-fat has 18 grams of fat in a cup, and their lowfat has only 3 grams of fat.
The whole milk ones can be very rich - when I treat myself to those, it’s usually as a dessert with honey or maple syrup.
The yogurt is a good response to antibiotics’ negative effects on the friendly bacteria in the digestive tract, and eggs are a complete protein, an essential part of the healing process.