You can eat as soon as your mouth regains feeling. During your procedure, a local anesthetic will be used to numb your mouth and keep you comfortable. This will cause your lips, teeth, and tongue to remain numb for up to five hours after your procedure. The amount of time you will remain numb depends upon how much anesthetic was used, where it was used, and how fast your body metabolizes it. Because you can do damage to your mouth trying to eat when numb, we recommend waiting to eat until you have feeling in your mouth.