Diet taboos for tooth extraction

Completely fasting and no water consumption within 2 hours. Avoid hot, hard, spicy foods within 24 hours. Chew with the non-extraction side throughout. Give priority to warm, cool, soft liquid or semi-liquid foods in the first 3 days. Try not to eat foods with small debris and easy to cause allergies within 7 days.

Don’t think that these requests are deliberately made by the doctor to make things difficult for you. When I had my fourth impacted tooth extracted two years ago, I relied on my own experience. During the half hour I was biting the cotton ball, I was still holding a cup of hot taro milk tea that I had just bought. I took a sip as soon as I spit out the cotton ball, and I felt it on the spot. The blood gushed out from the wound, and I was so scared that I quickly held a piece of ice in my mouth and looked through the precautions given by the nurse - hot food will dilate blood vessels, and the blood that was already coagulating was directly washed away. I had to bite a cotton ball for an extra hour that day to stop the bleeding.

The question that many people are most concerned about is actually: Can I eat ice cream? The current opinions in dentistry are actually divided into two schools. The mainstream view is that it is perfectly fine to eat pure milk ice cream without chopped nuts or chocolate chips 2 hours after extraction. Low temperature can also shrink blood vessels to help stop bleeding, and can also slightly offset the discomfort of tooth extraction. ； There are also some conservative doctors who recommend not eating high-sugar foods that day, for fear that the sugar will remain near the wound and cause bacterial flora disorder. I had my teeth extracted four times. Each time, I would freeze a box of original vanilla ice cream in advance. After eating, I would sip the remaining sugar with a sip of cold water. I never had any problems. If I was really worried, it would be perfectly fine to switch to sugar-free cold yogurt.

Oh, and whatever you eat, don't use a straw. Last time my colleague wanted to drink an iced Coke after a tooth extraction. He took a sip with a straw and removed the blood clot on the spot. He went to the emergency room in the middle of the night and got treatment. He also suffered from dry socket. Half of his head was so painful that he was numb. He couldn't hold it down even after taking painkillers for three days. The action of sucking will create negative pressure in the mouth. If it is right against the wound, it will easily pull off the blood clot protecting the wound. Without this layer of protection, not only will healing be slow, but the risk of infection will be several times higher.

There is no need to dig at the taboo list, it also depends on what kind of tooth you are extracting. If a loose deciduous tooth or a bad tooth that has been shaking for a long time is extracted, the wound will be so small that you can hardly feel it. You can eat soft bread or steamed eggs that day without any problem. ； But if the impacted tooth buried in the gums was extracted and two stitches were needed, then at least for the first three days, you should drink cold porridge and cold rice cereal honestly, and forget about chewing ribs and nuts. Last time my best friend had her impacted tooth extracted and she was so hungry that she went to eat barbecue the next day. She specially selected the tenderest lean beef and chewed it with the other side. However, she accidentally tore the wound. Her face, which had already healed, swelled up and turned into a bun on the spot. She went to the hospital and spent more than 200 on re-medication, which makes me feel sad just talking about it.

There is another pitfall that many people will step on: food that looks soft is not necessarily safe. For example, dragon fruit and strawberries with seeds, multigrain porridge with quinoa and brown rice, or even rice cereal with sesame seeds sprinkled on it. Those tiny pieces can easily get stuck in the cavities of the wound, and you don’t dare to pick them with a toothpick. If they get stuck in them, they will easily become inflamed. Last time, I was greedy and drank a bowl of porridge with chia seeds. A seed got stuck in the wound and I had to rinse it with mouthwash more than ten times to get it out. I was so frightened that I only dared to drink corn juice with the residue filtered out for the next three days.

As for the often-quoted saying "You can't eat hairy food", there is actually no evidence-based medical evidence to prove that seafood, beef and mutton and other foods will affect wound healing. As long as you are not allergic to these foods, steam them softly, and cook them lightly, eating them can supplement some protein and help the wound heal.； If you have allergies, or if you are prone to getting angry and getting acne easily after eating this kind of food, it is of course better to tolerate it for three or four days first.

In fact, there really aren't that many rigid rules that you must abide by. The core thing is just don't mess with wounds that are still healing. If you really can’t help but take a bite of iced watermelon and drink half a cup of warm milk tea, don’t be too anxious. As long as there is no bleeding or severe pain, it’s no big deal. If you really feel uncomfortable, just go to your tooth extraction doctor. After all, tooth extraction is enough suffering, and you have to let your mouth enjoy a little happiness, right?