What to Eat After All-on-4 Surgery

You can’t wait for your replacement teeth! You and your dentist have chosen to go with All-on-4 implants because they substitute an entire arch of teeth with only four posts. Plus, your dentures are immediately attached, completing your smile instantly. You’re so excited to eat your favorite foods with stable teeth again!

But before you jump straight back to a normal diet, remember you’ll be recovering from a surgical procedure. Your mouth will be sore for a few days and then require even more time to heal deeper in the jawbone. You don’t want to risk your implants failing by eating food that is too hard for your teeth. This means you’ll need to follow your dentist’s instructions for your diet.

Here are some guidelines to help you know what you should and shouldn’t eat immediately after, up to two weeks after, and up to 3 months after All-on-4 surgery, so you give your new smile the best chances of success.

Immediately After All-on-4 Surgery

Right after your All-on-4 procedure has been completed, you can drink liquids, but you should stay away from hot fluids like coffee or broth for at least 48 hours. When the anesthesia has worn off, and a few days have passed, you may drink hot beverages as you can tolerate them. In the meantime, it’s still important to stay hydrated to help your body recover more efficiently.

1-2 Weeks After All-on-4 Surgery

When you’ve reached a week following your All-on-4 surgery, you may feel much better. However, that doesn’t mean your new teeth are ready to take on tougher foods. In fact, for a couple of weeks afterward, you need to have an all-liquid diet. Fortunately, there are plenty of liquid options that enable you to get the nutrition you need, including vegetable broths or pureed soups, milk, protein shakes, fruit juice, gelatin, pudding, and ice cream or frozen yogurt.

3 Months After All-on-4 Surgery

At the two-week mark, you can start introducing soft foods back into your diet. These may involve light chewing, but they should allow your mouth to continue healing and progressing in the right direction. Do not have chewy, sticky, hard, or crunchy foods yet! Start off by thinning out instant oatmeal with milk and try other soft foods, such as scrambled eggs, mashed foods (applesauce, cauliflower, etc.), canned vegetables, and soft baked goods.

Although sticking to this prescribed diet may seem restricting, it allows your mouth to fully recover and integrate with your implants. Once your dentist gives you the thumbs up after this point, you can eat basically anything you want with your fully restored smile. Investing in a little bit of time upfront can enable you to enjoy a lifetime of eating the foods you want and need!

About the Author

After practicing general dentistry for several years, Dr. Hamid Mirsepasi decided to earn his prosthodontic certificate and master’s degree at what would later become Rutgers University Dental School. As a dental implant specialist, he proudly offers All-on-4 treatment to qualified patients, and he is one of the few prosthodontists in Richardson. If you have questions about All-on-4 dental implants, you can contact HM Dentistry online or by calling the office at 972-231-5744.