What to Eat When You’re Recovering From Jaw Surgery

Jaw surgery is a procedure to help both children and adults correct their bite, reduce jaw pain, fix injuries, or even to help breathing issues. Some people may have lower jaw surgery, upper jaw surgery, or both.

During recovery, people are prescribed a no-chew diet. Dr. Chad Dammling, DDS, MD from the Carolinas Center for Oral and Facial Surgery explains, “During the healing process, a soft, no-chew diet for 6 weeks allows for proper bone healing.” 

He also notes that it’s important to eat a diet that’s high in calories and protein to help with healing. Here, we’ll explain how to get enough nutrition to heal quickly and fully. 

How do you eat when you’re on a no-chew diet?

It can be difficult to consume enough food on a no-chew diet. But, while your body is healing, it requires more calories and macronutrients than normal. So, it’s important to focus on nutrition. 

Macronutrients — carbohydrates, protein, and fat — can all be useful in different ways. Protein is especially important after any type of surgery. It can help the body recover quickly and increase energy levels.

Beverages, like protein shakes, are a common way to get nutrition and calories on a no-chew diet. These often provide enough nutrients to replace traditional meals, as well as a good amount of vitamins and minerals. Other types of foods to have with a no-chew diet include blended foods, softened foods, and pureed foods. (We’ll get into more specifics below.)

The tools you use to eat can help as well. Baby spoons, straws, or other adaptive devices may help you eat more easily. These are particularly helpful when you have swelling or are unable to fully open your mouth.

EXPERT PICKS: WHAT TO READ NEXT

• Supporting your kid after jaw surgery: If your child recently had jaw surgery, here’s a guide for helping them recover as smoothly as possible.

• Eating when you don’t have an appetite: After surgery, you’re likely to have a lower-than-normal appetite. These tips can help you make sure you’re getting enough nutrition.

• Adding protein to your diet: Many high-protein foods can easily be blended into smoothies and drinks.

Start with blended foods

Some appliances can help you adapt to a no-chew diet. Popular examples include blenders and food processors. These tools can be fairly affordable and easy to use. Each one works a bit differently, but both blenders and food processors can help liquify or soften foods.

Blenders are a great way to make shakes and smoothies, with ingredients like:

• Fruits 

• Vegetables

• Yogurt

• Milk

• Protein powder

• Nuts or nut butters

Blenders can also be used to make creamy soups from ingredients like:

• Vegetables

• Peas and beans

• Nutritious oils

• Cheese

• Milk

• Bone broth

When making soup, don’t put hot liquid directly into the blender. Let it cool off first.

Food processors work similarly to blenders. But food processors might be better suited for making foods with thicker consistency, like hummus or other bean dips.

If you can, clear some storage space for blended meals. Some people make smoothies or soups before surgery and freeze them for later. This is particularly useful for when your energy is low after surgery, or if you want to eat smaller portions due to low appetite. 

Try soft foods when eating is more comfortable

Right after surgery, most people stick to thin liquids, then graduate to blended foods. As you start to heal and feel like you can eat a bit more, there are many soft foods that can help with healing.

Common soft foods to eat include:

• Ice cream

• Milk

• Soup

• Cottage cheese

• Yogurt

• Pudding

• Smoothies

• Hummus

• Scrambled eggs

• Mashed potatoes

• Oatmeal

• Meatloaf

• Mashed pasta, or small shaped, pasta (like pastina)

You can, of course, buy these foods from the grocery store — but you can also make them at home. Preparing foods yourself may make it easier to control the nutrition and consistency of the food.

Once you can start to eat more, it’s important to eat a wide range of foods. This will help you ensure that you’re getting proper nutrition during recovery. 

How long is recovery after jaw surgery?

It can take several months to fully recover from jaw surgery. 

The first few months are usually the most difficult. Most people have more side effects, like swelling, low energy, pain, nasal congestion, and drooling. In Dr. Dammling’s experience, “approximately 15% to 20% of swelling can take 2 to 3 months to resolve.”

But this doesn’t mean it will take that long to return to your normal life. Dr. Dammling says, “Most patients are able to return to work or school at week 2 to 3. Energy levels will take some time to recover, although light exercise can resume at week 3 to 4.” 

It’s important to remember that everyone’s recovery timeline looks different. Some patients may feel back to normal within weeks, whereas for others it may take months to feel normal again. There’s a lot of variety in what recovery looks like. And many factors impact the recovery timeline, like the type and severity of the surgery itself. 

When can I eat normally again?

Since everyone is a little different, it’s important to follow your surgeon’s recommendation and timeline for diet changes. Your age, type of surgery, and other medical conditions can change your surgeon’s guidance.

“Most patients are able to progress to a regular diet 6 to 8 weeks after surgery,” Dr. Dammling says. “This should be a gradual transition to a regular diet. And most people will be sore for the first week following the progression to harder foods.”

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Written by:

Emily Hulse, MS, RD

Emily is a registered dietitian and wellness writer. Her writing has appeared in Forbes, Sports Illustrated, and MDLinx, among other online health publications.

Edited by:

Katie E. Golden, MD

Katie E. Golden, MD, is a board-certified emergency medicine physician and a medical editor at GoodRx.

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