What to Eat After Dental Work? Jamba Juice to the Rescue

Thanks, Jamba Juice — you were there for me after I recently had my tooth pulled.   The tooth had been bothering me for awhile. But I was more focused on upcoming knee surgery for a meniscus tear. Once the knee surgery was over, I stopped taking pain meds and suddenly realized that my tooth was killing me.  Even trying to chew on the other side of my mouth was painful.

My dentist pulled the infected molar on my upper left side,  with intentions of doing an implant once the area is fully recovered.  But the the tip of the tooth had invaded my sinus, so I ended up with a little hole between the sinus and the empty spot where my tooth used to be.

Don’t sneeze. Don’t rinse it. Don’t blow my nose. Don’t suck anything with a straw. Be patient, and the hole, or “communication” will heal, I was told.

So I’ve been patient.  There were a few days that I felt hungry, but my swollen mouth felt too painful to chew. So I treated myself to a an all-fruit Peach Perfection smoothie at Jamba Juice.  Cool, slushy, and sweet,  made with  peaches, mangoes, strawberries and fruit juices, so there was some nutrition without having to chew. I have to admit, it was pretty carb-heavy  — 78 grams — in a medium size, but I can’t argue with 100% of the daily value for vitamin C, and 90% for vitamin A, in 320 calories. And adding a protein boost balanced it out a little.

Although I couldn’t use a straw, it was just fine with a spoon.

While waiting for my smoothie, I took a look at the menu and realized how much Jamba Juice has expanded beyond smoothies. Oatmeal. Sausage-y breakfast wraps. Fruity “Energy bowls” with granola and yogurt. The latest “solid food” is a line of  breakfast sandwiches.

I rarely go out for breakfast, because I don’t really like eggs, and most other  breakfast foods — pancakes, sausage, french toast, hash browns — are heavy, fat-and-carb bombs without much redeeming nutrition.  But these looked pretty good —  the Bacon, Roasted Tomato and Spinach breakfast sandwich is about the size of the palm of my hand —  with 250 calories, 12 gams of protein and 9 grams of fat. The  turkey sausage version  has 20 grams of protein in 290 calories.

 

But at the time,  my mouth wasn’t ready to try one. As good as they looked, I didn’t feel like chewing.

Well, a couple of weeks have passed and I can chew again. So when I was driving by the Layton Jamba Juice yesterday, I decided to stopped in for that Bacon, Roasted Tomato and Spinach breakfast sandwich.  Made on flatbread, it had some nice, savory flavors going for it.  It has an egg white base, but didn’t taste “eggy.” And it was filling, but not “heavy.”

They are normally $3.95, but  if you buy a smoothie, you can add one on for $2.

Meanwhile, I’m brushing and flossing so that I don’t have more dental surgery in the near future.