agmss, I'll be right here with you. I have one extracted tomorrow and preparation for an implant, so I'll be coming home with sutures.

Soup is always good and I never get tired of it, so that's good. Chili usually is OK for me too, as I make it with ground beef and beans, and don't make it too thick. Pasta is soft and mushy, easy to chew and eat.

Scrambled eggs are easy, fast protein and fortunately I like lentils, beans of all types, mashed potatoes, rutabagas and turnips, celeriac, etc.

It's a good excuse to eat dessert too. All kinds of custard, from pumpkin to plain, puddings, ice cream. I've found that even soft muffins are easy enough.

I mostly just stay away from chewy things like steak, stuff that comes in big chunks, hard stuff like popcorn.

Annie

D'arch - I am a hippie kid. I love tofu. Lol. I think my first day of school in rural Maine I wanted nori and halvah. I was doomed.

Annie - I can easily imagine living on ice cream and flan. But I think that might add to my dental woes. This is the season where I start craving crunchy veggies and fruit. So my fridge is full of stuff I can't eat right now.

Beans - I just remembered I have a package of flageolets to try. Making a beet soup with my stock tonight.

Thank you both.

Yes to the scrambled (or any) eggs, heck no to the scrapple! Maybe to the fish. Maybe yes, but perhaps not to the pâté. Beans and lentils only if cooked very soft. Yes to the custards, puddings, ice cream and muffins. Yes to the risotto and mash. No to ground meat (horrors!). Yes to pasta. Yes to cheese. Yes to any fruit that doesn't have seeds. Yes to baked potato.

It's not the chewing! You can chew on the other side of your mouth, at least a little. It's the injured gums. Even mushy meat can be unbearably scratchy, especially if you have packing, where the pressure needed to chew even a bit can push the packing into the sore spot and scratch.

Visceral reaction aside (yes, one can remember pain), if you really do have an "other side of your mouth" you might be able to get scratchy stuff past. Warm things like soup, pasta, and warm roots can be soothing if they're not scratchy.

plllog, I had an implant on the OTHER side of my mouth last year, along with a bone graft in the jaw. I had no problems eating ground meat at all, and didn't even think about fish. Pate' would have been OK, but you gotta put it on something, or at least I do and no way could I eat a chewy piece of baguette or crunchy slice of anything.

Annie

Well, Annie, as I said, it was a visceral reaction. :) I remember exactly what a piece of ground beef felt like (torture) and it's been decades.

I freely admit that people have different experiences. I wouldn't have contradicted if you'd said you'd already tried it before, but just the memory brings tears.

Did anyone mention protein shakes yet? The blender is your friend right now, I think. No using straws, tho, right? I like to cut up bananas & freeze them for shakes - you can also blend them w/ chocolate milk or fruit juices for a treat.

I've found that putting just about anything in a food chopper makes it more tolerable with a painful mouth. Just add whatever fluid is appropriate, to make it the consistency of baby food...or just buy some various jars of baby food.

Today I made a pot of beet soup. Though I am not sure it would be recognizable to any russian it went over well as a shop lunch.

I think carolb has the answer: get out the blender and puree away! Soups such as potato, vegetable, pea & bean, protein shakes,/smoothies, malts, frozen bananas work great to thicken the smoothies. Greek yogurt, applesauce, cottage cheese, puddings, jello. Mashed potatoes, baked sweet potatoes (quick in microwave), can steam carrots and puree. Ensure drink as a last resort.

agmss, how are you feeling? I have 8 sutures, and can't open my mouth enough to get a bite of much in there. The doc says no toothpaste, no mouthwash, no using straws. He also looked very sternly at me and said: "Leave that alone. No messing with it. No removing stitches if they get loose. No ANYTHING. Leave it alone." Like I wouldn't. Well, I do admit that I once filed a rough spot on a tooth with a nail file and I did take out just a couple of stitches when I had my wisdom teeth removed, but sheesh, he doesn't trust me? (grin) He did give me some very nice painkillers, though...

I had some of my homecanned white tomato soup and and some caramel macchiato greek yogurt, because I'm on antibiotics and need the probiotics. Too bad I don't like yogurt. (sigh)

I'm thinking maybe pancakes for breakfast, definitely no bacon for me. And tomorrow is pi day, so maybe pumpkin pie without crust. Or lemon meringue, that sounds yummy.

Annie

Ouch Annie. I am better than you at the moment but have unpleasant dental issues to dread uhm face. My mouth is pretty sore a little itchy (which I hope is healing underway). I don't know why your dentist doesn't trust you. My new dentist seemed sweet, gentle and encouraging (that I didn't bite?) and doubtful.

I had oatmeal for breakfast. Pancakes sound awesome. My BIL made a small batch of syrup yesterday. I am surrounded by maples - maybe this year.... Maybe not - we have a bunch of cutting boards to make in the next 2 weeks, spoons, seed starting....

Anyway I made a huge pot of stock right after my extraction. So I made a beet soup for lunch for my sister and I at the shop yesterday. Then another soup with broth egg noodles and beet greens last night. Starting to crave crisp crunchy chewy.....

Hope you feel better soon!

All - a little off topic, but I'm scheduled to have a front tooth extracted in preparation for an implant in a week or so. I must admit I'm terrified! If any of you are willing to share your experience with me and give me pointers, please let me know. Oral surgeon says I'll miss "just a day" of work - I'm skeptical.....Would love to hear from others who have been through this!

My extractions were wisdom teeth - all 4 @ once when I was around 18.The best advice I can offer is to faithfully follow your Dr.'s instructions pre- & post-op. I did & had no probs - my younger sister decided not to & developed dry socket.

I had a molar extracted for an implant and it really was not a difficult thing. I would think a front tooth would be even less trouble, but that's just a guess. I LOVE my implant! It's my favorite tooth in my mouth! Anytime I have to have novocaine, I just make sure I don't look at the needle; it hurts much less that way and it seems that docs these days have really almost perfected painless shots for dental work.

When I had 2 teeth removed, I really didn't need to change up my diet all that much. I was just told to avoid anything hard/sharp, like pretzels.

My biggest problem was opening wide enough to get food in at first!

Jennie, I had the extraction and a bone graft, had several sutures and took ibuprofen for two days, that's all. It wasn't particularly painful, it didn't take too long for the procedure and I'm back to eating whatever I want but I don't chew that much on that side yet. It's my second implant and I think your surgeon was right, you'll miss a day of work and be back. The problem is that you'll be missing that front tooth. Your doc may work more quickly, but mine wants 6 months of healing time between extraction and implant.

Annie

Thanks everyone - I will be getting a "flipper" tooth that will be removable. It will be in place three months while the extraction/bone graft site heals. I understand it's like a retainer and no one will be able to tell it's removable. I think my issue is more psychological right now than anything - hopefully I'm worrying for nothing! I appreciate the feedback - it does help me feel better!

I'm having oral surgery tomorrow to have the furthest bottom molar on my right side removed (it was abscessed), and I have decided to take two days off. I also told the doctor that I want to be sedated, which means Kevin will have to take me there and drive me home (only a mile and a half from our house), and he will pick up my pain medication prescription while this is being done. I did the same for him about a year or so ago - I convinced him to replace his bridge with an implant, and he has been much happier since he had this done. My tooth could possibly have been saved, but my dentist said that even if she saved it, it would only last a couple of years, and so I decided to go with something more permanent.

I made sure we have enough eggs, but I will be avoiding toast. I think I will make a large batch of egg-drop soup. I might make some split-pea soup - just because I like it - but I will probably end up making too much of everything. The fridge in the garage is at least half empty, and so at least I have room to store leftovers. I will make a note to avoid any ground meat and sandwiches.

Lars

Lars, good luck on that oral surgery. I went to have an abcessed molar removed last Thursday and to get a filling and ended up having the molar removed AND having a root canal on that same side. Four hours in the dentist chair and I was ready to go. Truthfully, it's my budget that gets hurt the worst at the dentist, that's the biggest "ouch".

Anyway, I still have a couple of sutures there and a temporary crown. I took over the counter ibuprofen that night and felt good enough the next day that I was out repairing fences and gates. We went to lunch today with an old friend of Elery's and although I can't chew on that side, I feel fine. As mimi said, my biggest problem was opening my mouth wide enough to get anything in there to chew, at least at first. Now there's no problem, day 4 after the procedure(s), I had bourbon chicken over rice, some steamed asparagus, a salad which included sunflower seeds and a coconut macaron for dessert. I have avoided hard/sharp things like potato chips, corn chips, pretzels, etc.

I hope you feel as well after as I did, although I did sleep the first night in the recliner, as lying flat made my mouth throb and I couldn't manage to stay propped up on pillows. Get lots of pillows!

Annie

Fortunately I already have six pillows on my bed, which is queen-sized, and so I can sleep on either side of it or in the middle. I have had to avoid all food and water since midnight last night and drink as much water as possible up until midnight. I am not hungry and have not made anything for later, but I figure I can do that when I get an appetite. I have some broccoli that I want to cook, but I might have to purée it, or maybe have it tomorrow. I'll probably just have ramen soup today, and Kevin may have to fend for himself. I do have leftover potato frittata from Sunday, however, and some bean dip that I made yesterday. I also have avocados but do not want to eat them with chips. Maybe I will make a cold avocado soup - I have plenty of limes in the freezer from when I tree was overproducing.
Thanks for your thoughts, Annie!
Lars

I do hope you are feeling better, Lars. I think the soup the first day is a very good idea, and my dentist told me to rinse my mouth with salt water to help with healing, so I did that and it helped get stuff out of the sutures.

Heal quickly!

How are you feeling, agmss? And Jennie, how did that implant go?

Annie

I had a molar pulled earlier this year, and I was not to eat anything on that side of my mouth, nor anything hot.

Jasdip, I was told nothing hot for the first 24 hours, but not to use toothpaste or mouthwash for the first week, as some of the ingredients apparently inhibit healing. I was also told not to use a straw. My mouth is still "tender" enough that I wouldn't attempt to chew on that side anyway!

Annie

I am definitely feeling better today, but the antibiotics make me feel tired, weak, and a bit nauseous. I am glad I stayed home from work yesterday, as I was up until 2:00 AM the night before because pain medication had worn off. I didn't feel pain yesterday and did not have to take any more pain medication, however. I had some chicken bones from an Algerian Roast chicken that I had made before, and I made stock from that. I wasn't sure how it would turn out because it had a lot of seasoning on it, and I normally do not make stock with salt. However, I did like the way it came out. I boiled the bones (with a fair amount of meat left) with a carrot, celery, parsnip, onion, garlic, and three bay leaves. I took some of the stock out after about an hour to use in some Ramen soup, and then I added more water and cooked the stock for two hours more and let it rest until almost cool. I used the last part of the stock to make egg noodle soup with mushrooms and broccoli. I removed the florets from the broccoli and then sliced the stems very thinly and threw those into the stock. I also made a roux, to which I added part of the stock and the mushrooms, and then I cooked the egg noodles and broccoli florets in the main stock, which I had already strained. I only put a small amount of black pepper in because I was told to avoid spicy foods. This soup came out fairly bland (by my standards), but I still liked it, and I think Kevin liked it more than I did. I made quite a bit, and I still have enough left over for me to have tonight. After today, I hope to go back to more regular food, but I still have to irrigate the surgery area with a syringe type tool that my doctor gave me.

Jenny, have you gotten your flipper yet? I imagine that front teeth will be harder to deal with, and my molar was at the very back, and so it is fairly easy to avoid that area.

Annie, when Kevin had one of his implants, he also had to have a bone graft, which sounded painful to me, but he survived it okay. He only recently replaced his bridge with an implant. They are fairly expensive, but I cannot imagine not having the teeth. I hope I am done with this for a while.

Lars

Lars, I hope I'm done for a while too, I have a few months before getting the implants installed. Somehow, though, I don't think so, I never seem to go to the dentist without some kind of issue. I just spent too many years grinding my teeth in my sleep...

Annie