It’s easy to feel eager when you first get dental implants. Once the posts are placed, many patients want all sorts of meals. Still, it’s crucial to let your mouth recover. That means you’ll need to limit the kinds of foods you eat for a while. Otherwise, you’ll face oral issues or even implant failure. Your Edison prosthodontist can help out if you’d like. So, here’s a primer on foods to avoid after dental implant surgery and what to eat instead.
Which Foods to Avoid After Implant Surgery
While implants will ultimately help you eat as usual, they can’t do so right away. Your mouth needs time to heal and adapt first. Before it does, the treatment sites will be rather sensitive.
With all that said, try to avoid the following for the first few days after surgery:
Hot & Spicy Stuff
Perhaps you want to celebrate your implants with piping hot foods. Well, those products will have to wait. Meals with too much sizzle or spices won’t do your implants good.
You see, hot and spicy things will irritate your surgical site. Exposed nerves from implant surgery react to them with pain and discomfort. As such, you shouldn’t have salsa, spicy peppers, or scalding soup.
Chewy & Sticky Snacks
You may be tempted to have something sticky with your new implants. Even so, you should resist the urge. Eating chewy and sticky snacks – caramels, gummies, etc. – isn’t a good idea soon after surgery.
Per their names, chewy and sticky foods involve a lot of chewing. You must use your jaw a lot to break them down and swallow them. However, this effort can keep the incisions in your gums from healing. You’d then have to wait even longer to enjoy your implants’ perks.
Hard & Tough Items
For a lot of people, the whole point of implants is to let you eat hard and tough stuff. Regardless, do your best to hold back for now. Having a tough meal right after implant placement isn’t the right move.
Remember, your implants haven’t fully fused yet. Their positions in your jaw are still a bit unstable. Given that fact, having tough foods too soon will put them under excess pressure. They can then cause soreness or even damage. So, it’s not yet time for apples, hard candies, and nuts.
What Should You Eat Instead?
Until your implants start to fuse with your jaw, you’ll want to go easy on them. Thus, the best approach is to follow a soft food diet. For the next week or so, consider having the items below:
- Smoothies & Protein Shakes
- Milk, Cheese, & Yogurt
- Fresh Juice
- Applesauce
- Bananas
- Pudding
- Mashed Potatoes
- Scrambled Eggs
- Cool Soups
You’ll have excellent treatment results by knowing the foods to avoid after dental implant surgery. Still, feel free to talk to your dentist about other recovery tips.
About the Practice
Edison Prosthodontics is based in Edison, NJ. Led by Dr. Vrajesh Shah, our practice can help any potential patient with their smile restoration needs. Our well-trained team can provide dentures, dental bridges, and dental implants. We also offer preventive, cosmetic, and emergency oral services to ensure you get a dreamy smile. For more details or to book a visit, you can reach us on our website or by phone at (732)-906-0077.