What to Eat While You Wait: Five Snacks to Sustain You Through a Dental Emergency
Posted on: 5 October 2015
Dental emergencies including broken teeth, serious toothaches and other issues can be extremely painful, and they can make it hard to eat. However, if you've made an appointment with the emergency dentist and you can't get in until tomorrow, you may need to eat a few things to sustain you through the night. Wondering what foods will work the best? Try these five items and suggestions:
1. Smoothies
Due to your teeth sensitivity, you may not want any food touching your teeth, and because of that, you should explore foods that you can eat through a straw. When you suck food through a straw, it doesn't hit your front teeth, and you can typically swallow it before it hits your molars either.
In addition to smoothies, some options to consider include yogurt or even baby food.
2. Milk
Pain can minimise hunger, and if you aren't hungry enough to drink a smoothie or a cup of yogurt through a straw, you may just need a small snack to coat your stomach.
If you are self-medicating for the pain, you should not take ibuprofen or many other pain killers on an empty stomach, and just a glass of milk is often enough to give your stomach lining the coating it needs.
3. Alkaline Foods
Milk also works well as a snack during a dental emergency due to its alkaline nature, but it is not the only alkaline snack you should consider. There is a wide range of alkaline foods including almonds and cheese that are ideal for safe and comfortable snacking.
However, acidic foods such as tomatoes can burn your dental enamel, making your dental emergency issue feel even more painful.
4. Room-Temperature Non-Sugary Drinks
When you have a dental emergency or even in general if you have weak enamel, hot or cold beverages can hurt your teeth. Typically referred to as dental sensitivity, annoyance to hot and cold happens when your root structure is exposed and not protected by enamel.
To help avoid pain while you wait for your emergency dental appointment, stay away from hot coffee or icy water. Instead, drink room temperature water or tepid coffee. Remember to leave the sugar out as well. If you love carbonated beverages, for example, skip soda for a day and drink unflavoured mineral water.
5. Carrots or Crunchy Veggies
If you love to snack, you may not be able to eat the sugary or salty snacks for a day or two until you have resolved your dental emergency, and even after that, you may want to stay away from snacks that are hard on your teeth.
Instead, try snacking on crunchy vegetables. They help to keep your teeth clean and healthy, but they also help to satisfy your urge to snack.
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