"Soft food" - following dental treatment

I’m due to have dental surgery in a couple of weeks, doing the first stage for a number of dental implants. The guy says it’ll be tender for about a week, so I don’t fancy meals where I’d need to be having a good chew. Any thoughts for some dinners that get beyond pasta & sauce?

Some things come to mind, just be sure you use plenty of salt and herbs to make everything very tasty:

mashed potatoes and gravy
soft polenta and sauce
cheese or soft cooked and very finely chopped veggie soufflé
puréed and or creamed vegetables
puréed soups
crab cakes or fish cakes (if you chop the fish finely enough)
soft cheeses
softly cooked eggs
mashed beans/cheese bake

Good luck with the procedure!

I’m sorry!! Good luck with it. I am having a filling replaced next week - no where near what you are doing!! Pureed soup sounds great to me!!

Sorry for the upcoming torture!

A few ideas that might be edible:

soufflé
quiche
chowder (clam / potato cheddar / roasted vegetable)
split pea soup (no ham chunks!)
macaroni and cheese
cauliflower purée
omelette
deviled eggs
fasolakia (slow cooked green beans Greek style)
potatoes dauphinoise
lots of Indian curries are soft if you go veg, ie: bengan bharta, saag aloo, etc

Lots of vitamin C! Avoid spicy food.

• Cold soup the first day, gazpacho, cucumber with yogurt and dill
More cold soups: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/06/03/magazine/cold-soups.html?_r=0
• Carrot soup with ginger or with coriander or with lentils
• Pureed butternut squash
• Overcooked noodles
• Rice congee with fish
• Tofu + soy sauce and sesame oil

Sweets:
• Smoothies: milk + chocolate ice-cream + banana in a blender
• Lots of yogurt
• Rice pudding with vanilla
• Custard with caramel
• I read that pineapple juice has an enzyme that can reduce swelling

Hope you will be doing fine!

Many thanks for all the suggestions.

It’s going to be a particularly disappointing week. Not only do I have to eat the soft food but I had great eating plans for the week. Mrs Harters is away all week (a trip to Las Vegas with her sister) and I’d planned to be eating all the things she doesnt like but I do - I had lots of game in my future now it seems I have lots of soft scrambled egg. 'Tis not a good swap.

Here is some “mighty good” egg recipe. I have made these four times now and everytime they were LOVED!

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The first day or two will be cold or room temp only items, so get your favorite smooth ice cream or sorbet to have handy.
And a bag of frozen peas for your face to help keep swelling down.
A savory greek yogurt bowl with finely chopped fresh herbs and dribble of good olive oil, squeeze of lemon juice.

Savory bread pudding, mashed root veggies, polenta, soft noodle soups, soft cheeses, avocado, smoothies, chocolate mousse…
It’s really just the side that had the procedure that is most sensitive- i was able to eat foods with some texture (like a soft dinner roll) on the other side within a few days.
Stay clear of any nuts, seeds, hard raw veggies, or sharp chips/crisps for an extended period of time.

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Chew on the other side. My husband had one and that was his only temporary restriction.

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Yeah, ya don’t want things like that getting down in the wound/hole.

Pinged in case anyone else has some recommendations. I may need them - surgery done today and the the bloke says I may well need soft (or softish) food for 4 - 6 weeks.

First dinner - soup, followed by yoghurt mixed with leftover apple sauce, followed by rice pudding, mixed with IKEA lingonberry jam. I am ordered off hot food for 48 hours -so two days of cold slop, then. Deep joy.

Ouch, that’s right through holiday season. I’d suggest lots of whiskey/whisky, but I know you don’t partake.

Otherwise I can’t really think of anything that hasn’t been suggested. When I was young I had a good fall on my face, knocking some teeth out and had a similar 6 week “no chew” period. I still cannot tolerate milk shakes to this day . . . but it was a relatively easy way for mom to get protein and calories into me. I also recall lots of soups, puddings, scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes.

Hope doc gave you plenty of pain meds so you can at least sleep through most of your exile to the land of soft food.

Aw, man H. That sucks :frowning:

Better to have operated in summer.
How about cucumber & mint gazpacho, riz au lait http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/12114-riz-au-lait (adapted from the famous dessert serving in L’Ami Jean by Stéphane Jego, also there has been an old discussion on CH about the secret of the recipe serving in the bistrot).
Floating island, chocolate banana smoothy (dark chocolate ice-cream mixed with banana and milk).

I wonder why. As I mentioned, my husband had an implant. He had minor discomfort and just ate mostly whatever he wanted, chewing on the “good” side. Hmm.

Hmm . . .I wonder why you question OP’s situation. He didn’t indicate an implant. I mentioned a similar no chew period. It could be the jaw, the gums, the teeth.

“doing the first stage for a number of dental implants.”

My husband’s implant was a multi-stage process that took an entire year.

You win.

Oh mercy. My only point is that people tend to fear the worst that maybe/probably doesn’t appear. There’s a thread on CH about braces which I went into in my mid60s. Easy peasy.

I’ve had several done, both canines and adjacent teeth. Because of that, I havnt really got a “good side” and he’s had to also fix the implants with bone grafting “stuff” so it’s important to be careful they’re not disturbed. That said, hopefully you will be right and I’ll be able to get back to something like “proper” food much quicker than he’s suggested.