Getting Implants or New Teeth? The Months of Healing Are When Nutrition Quietly Slips.

Major dental work can mean three to nine months on soft food and temporary teeth. Here’s what research says happens to your diet in that time, and how to keep eating well while you heal.

By Sandra Whitfield, Dietitian
October 2026 · 7 min read

For many people, a new smile comes with months of soup, yogurt and mashed potatoes.

Linda’s dentist laid out the plan in January. Four extractions, a few weeks of healing, then implants. After that, months of waiting for the implants to fuse with her jaw, on temporary teeth, before her final set in the fall.

She’d budgeted for the cost and cleared her calendar for the appointments. What nobody really talked about was what she’d eat for the next nine months.

The first few weeks were what she’d expected: broth, applesauce, pudding. But it didn’t end. Her temporaries couldn’t handle anything firm, so the soft food stayed. Soup for lunch, mashed potatoes for dinner, ice cream because it was the only thing that felt good.

By spring she’d lost nine pounds she hadn’t meant to lose. She was tired by mid-afternoon. And at a check-up, her dentist asked a question she didn’t expect: “How’s your eating been?”

Honestly? Not great.

Linda is a composite based on common patient experiences.

This isn’t a one-week recovery

Most of us think of dental recovery the way we think of wisdom teeth: a few days of ice cream and you’re back to normal.

Implants and full-mouth work are different. After an implant is placed, the bone has to grow around it before it can take the full force of chewing. According to Cleveland Clinic, that fusing process alone can take three to nine months. Add extractions and healing time before it, and many people spend most of a year eating carefully.

Typical sequence; your plan and timing may differ. Osseointegration timing: Cleveland Clinic.

Soft food is easy to eat. It’s not always easy to eat well.

When chewing is hard, the first foods to go are the ones that need the most work: meat, raw vegetables, fruit, nuts, whole grains. Those also happen to be where much of our protein, fiber and vitamins come from.

Research on people living with limited chewing shows exactly this pattern. A review in the Journal of the Canadian Dental Association found that people without natural teeth struggle with hard or tough foods, even with well-made dentures. (Hutton et al., 2002)

In a UK study of more than 750 older adults, those who had lost all their teeth took in significantly less protein, fiber, vitamin C and calcium than those who still had theirs. (Sheiham et al., Journal of Dental Research, 2001)

Those studies looked at people with long-term tooth loss, but the same thing can happen during months of dental treatment. And in another study of older adults, those with chewing problems or uncomfortable dentures avoided more foods and reported more digestive complaints. (Altenhoevel et al., The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging, 2012)

Here’s what a typical “soft day” can look like:

Your body is healing, and it needs protein and fiber

Healing takes raw materials. A review in Nutrition in Clinical Practice explains that nutrition deficiencies get in the way of the normal stages of wound healing, and that malnutrition is linked to weaker healing and higher infection rates. (Stechmiller, 2010)

Two nutrients matter most during these months, and a soft diet tends to run short on both:

That matches what the research found: people with limited chewing took in less protein and less fiber, and those with chewing problems reported more digestive complaints. (Sheiham et al., 2001; Altenhoevel et al., 2012)

Your dental team takes care of the teeth. What you eat while you wait is the part that’s up to you.

More soup won’t fix it

Most people try one of these. Each one solves the chewing problem. None of them really solves the nutrition problem.

What you actually need is a soft food that’s as nutritious as the hard foods you gave up

That’s exactly what Arigoy was made to be.

Arigoy is a plant-based, all-in-one nutrition drink you stir into milk. No blender, no cooking, nothing to chew. Two scoops gives you:

• 15g of plant protein, more when mixed with dairy milk
• Fiber, probiotics and digestive enzymes, made to be gentle on the stomach
• 22 vitamins and minerals
• No added sugar, unlike many soft-diet staples
• 110 calories, light enough when your appetite is low

Think of it as the meat, fruit and vegetables you can’t chew right now, in a glass. On the days chewing isn’t an option, a glass of Arigoy can stand in for a meal. On better days, it fills the protein and fiber gaps the rest of your soft diet leaves.

Morning, noon or night. Have it for breakfast, as a lunch you don’t have to chew, in the afternoon when energy dips, or in the evening when you can’t face another bowl of soup.

1. Cold, with milk

Like a hazelnut chocolate milk. An easy breakfast or lunch, sipped from a glass.

2. Lukewarm, like cocoa

Comforting in the evening, without the heat right after a procedure.

3. Make pancakes with it

Mix a scoop into the batter for soft, fluffy pancakes with extra protein and fiber. A real breakfast that’s easy to eat.

Tip: ask your dental team when it’s OK to use a straw and drink warm liquids. Many advise avoiding both for a while after extractions.

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