Dental surgery- what’s your best liquid meals?

[LiquidLunchable]

DS is 8, he’s just had dental surgery and is now on a liquids only diet for the next few months. I’m trying to think of foods I can make but struggling. So far I’ve come up with soups (anything can be soup if I blend it with enough gravy/tomato sauce/other soup right?), yoghurts, milkshakes, scrambled egg with milk to make it really soft? What else can I do? He’s a huge eater and lives on carbs to keep his energy levels up, so we are all going to struggle here! Any suggestions suitable for an 8 year old?

mashed potatoes seem like an obvious choice. something like a congee could be good as soft/liquidy carbs, but if there have been extractions it's not ideal as the little bits of broken rice could get stuck in the holes. same for dhal.

I know very little about dentistry, but 3 months seems really long to be on liquids only, will it be a sliding scale and after a month or so potato waffles and soft solids would be edible?

Does it have to pure liquid or can it be soft (no chewing)?
Mashed potatoes with lots of butter and cheddar was my favourite meal after double wisdom teeth removal. Hearty enough to fill you up but no chewing required. Baked beans are also good if he can cope with small lumps.

If he's on a liquid diet for so long then you need to make sure there's enough fibre to avoid constipation. Veggie soup made with broccoli, peas, carrots and potatoes is good. I find that adding enough potatoes, butter, stock cube or even cream will disguise the taste of veggies in a soup.

A baked sweet potato is also nice and you can spoon out the inside without any toppings. Or a regular baked potato with butter and cheese. You can also make fruit smoothies with strawberries, bananas, vanilla soy milk or fruit yoghurt. Or freeze the same mixture into ice lollies to change it up a bit.

I know very little about dentistry, but 3 months seems really long to be on liquids only, will it be a sliding scale and after a month or so potato waffles and soft solids would be edible?

I also thought so...DH is a dentist and I've never heard of a liquid diet for so long. It's usually only until the point where the surgical site has healed, a maximum of 2-3 weeks. However there could be very rare procedures were the jaw is actually wired shut, though it would be unusual at such a young age.

Smoothies, if you have a decent blender. Yogurt, fruit and you can even put some leafy greens or avocado in them too to get extra nutrition.

But, liquids only for a few months????? Really???

Liquids only for MONTHS? What surgery is this, are you sure this was the advice? If he can’t have solids for 8+ weeks you’ll really need some meal replacement shakes, vitamins and doctors advice.

Ahhh - my friend had this for her jaw, she was wired shut so on a liquid only diet for months.

Basically everything you've suggested - but also lots of electrolyte drinks where her fave, I ended up buying some on holiday (the USA had great flavours!).

Angel delight was one of her comfort treats on the diet, again I bought on some American sweet websites fun flavours for her to try.

PP have covered the fibre issue, definitely lots of interesting blended soups! I know my friend had açai bowls, but perhaps for an 8 year old smoothie bowls could be fun? You can top them with Nutella / peanut butter / lotus biscoff to make them interesting 😊

Hope you find lots of fab things for him!

Sorry, to clarify it’s 8+ weeks as he’s got a wire holding his face together. Not 3 months, but close ish?

love these ideas thank you! Keep them coming! They’ve said liquid and no chew so I’m not sure which but I think mash and scrambled eggs will be ok?

OK. 8+ weeks is a long time, but definitely not "a few months" like you originally said.

Good luck!

You really have to be very careful as cleaning of the teeth will be challenging and many of the suggestions people have made eg smoothies, fruit yoghurts , electrolyte drinks are EXTREMELY high in sugar and by the time the wires come out they will have decay in many teeth.

You can purée food such as fish , meat vegetables and fortify foods with butter, whole milk , cheese etc . This is for oral cancer patients but has good ideas about how to add calories to puréed food . Think about what foods you puréed when first eating solids but avoid the trap of non stop sweet foods and drinks. Keep the sweet stuff with meals as a dessert . https://www.qvh.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Eating-and-drinking-after-head-and-neck-cancer-surgery-0606.pdf

I am surprised they've not referred you to a nutritionist

POLENTA, how could I forget! polenta (especially cheese polenta) is very delicious and very soft.

You could buy protein drinks like Huel to keep him topped up.

@Lollygaggle im just looking at ordering a baby toothbrush. I’m hoping it’ll be soft enough that he will use it, but effective enough to keep his teeth clean

He must keep the mouth clean both because , presumably ,he has stitches in his mouth and to stop decay.
It's worth asking his dentist to prescribe a high fluoride toothpaste even though he is , in theory , too young for it and if he has been prescribed mouthwash not to use within two hours of brushing as it rinses the fluoride in the toothpaste away .
At 8 ,after surgery, I would expect you will need to brush around after he's had a go as he will not have the dexterity or confidence to do a proper job.
I would use a normal size toothbrush as you should easily be able to get it in and baby toothbrushes may be too small/soft

Jamie Oliver did a recipe for a hot milk drink once that I can't find but it was essentially

Oats (blend them dry first then add)
Hot milk
Horlicks
Banana
Peanut butter (smooth)
Blend together

Oats for carbs and they go really fine and drinkable if you blend them then add to the hot milk

How about things like slimfast and y-food and the like. These are designed to be full meals.