“How long should you wait to eat after getting a tooth pulled?”
I am a 39 year old male. I want to know how long should I wait to eat after getting a tooth pulled?
7 Answers
A minimum of 2 hours.
At least a few hours then stay off that side for a few days.
Follow your surgeon's or dentist's instructions. Most often, biting on gauze is recommended for 30 minutes. Do not eat during that time. Crunchy foods, carbonated beverages, drinking through a straw should be avoided that day. Soft foods, smoothies, or popsicles should be alright 30 minutes after most routine extractions.
It is important to keep up nutrition with soft foods and liquids almost right away. Use good judgement as to foods that will not cut into or get caught in the area.
Hello, surgical extraction or tooth removal, depending on numbers of teeth, should be taken seriously for optimum healing. The best solution is to let it be for at least 2 weeks, by which time, the gum tissue will most likely have covered up the site. It also depends on if the tooth socket was bone grafted. Standard today is to graft after removal. For that, it should be a lot faster healing time and also less major discomfort as well. Best wishes. As for eating, normal eating after the procedure should be ok as long as some common sense is followed..no wine, no cigarettes, no sharp foods, no spicy foods...ie...give it the best chance of healing possible so future restorations, be it implants or bridges, etc will give you the best results possible.
You can eat anytime as long as it's not on the side of the extraction. I would wait until the anesthesia wears off.
Hello,
What a great question! First off all, if you are not being put to sleep for the extraction then it is better to make sure you eat before the extraction. This will do 2 things: 1) it will ease the burden about when to eat after the extraction; and 2) it will keep your nutrition up and make the extraction and feeling afterward more pleasant.
However, as far as how long to wait after the extraction before eating there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, there will be gauze to bite down on to help form a blood clot where the extraction was done. This usually takes approximately 30 minutes to happen. Secondly, local anesthesia is given in the area of the extraction so there will be a profound numb feeling in that area. The numb feeling will make it difficult to eat or drink without drooling. It is best to wait until the numbness has worn off and there is no more bleeding. The numbness usually takes about an hour and a half to wear off, but this depends on the type of anesthesia that was given and when it was given.
Finally it is important to consider what is eaten after a tooth extraction. It is better to eat softer non- sticky foods. It is also important to avoid hot or spicy foods (hot foods will promote bleeding and spicy foods will irritate the area). It is also important to avoid drinking through a straw, spitting, or dragging on a cigarette as this can change the pressure in your mouth and loosen the clot. Hope this helps.
My best to you!
William F. Scott IV, DMD
What a great question! First off all, if you are not being put to sleep for the extraction then it is better to make sure you eat before the extraction. This will do 2 things: 1) it will ease the burden about when to eat after the extraction; and 2) it will keep your nutrition up and make the extraction and feeling afterward more pleasant.
However, as far as how long to wait after the extraction before eating there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, there will be gauze to bite down on to help form a blood clot where the extraction was done. This usually takes approximately 30 minutes to happen. Secondly, local anesthesia is given in the area of the extraction so there will be a profound numb feeling in that area. The numb feeling will make it difficult to eat or drink without drooling. It is best to wait until the numbness has worn off and there is no more bleeding. The numbness usually takes about an hour and a half to wear off, but this depends on the type of anesthesia that was given and when it was given.
Finally it is important to consider what is eaten after a tooth extraction. It is better to eat softer non- sticky foods. It is also important to avoid hot or spicy foods (hot foods will promote bleeding and spicy foods will irritate the area). It is also important to avoid drinking through a straw, spitting, or dragging on a cigarette as this can change the pressure in your mouth and loosen the clot. Hope this helps.
My best to you!
William F. Scott IV, DMD
