# Adult wisdom teeth removal with general: How many days off of work? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 19, 2004, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-wisdom-teeth-removal-with-general-how-many-days-off-of-work/280640 "2004-12-19T11:38:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-wisdom-teeth-removal-with-general-how-many-days-off-of-work/280640/21 "2004-12-20T04:44:07Z")
It entirely depends on your individual teeth and surgery. I wasn’t an adult - I was 13 - but I needed the whole Spring Break week and could have used more. Swelled up like a chipmunk and bruised from my cheekbones to my collarbones. Miserable. And then, some of my friends had them out under the general and could have been up the next day. It all depends on your teeth. ---
**Author:** ![paa3838](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9de053/32.png) [@paa3838](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paa3838)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-wisdom-teeth-removal-with-general-how-many-days-off-of-work/280640/22 "2004-12-20T08:22:27Z")
Thanks for the opinions, everyone. I’m a bit of a wuss… I think I’ll ask for 3 days, at least. (That story about the man bleeding to death freaks me out a bit, but certainly validates those fears that have kept me with my wisdom teeth for the last 15 years… ) ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-wisdom-teeth-removal-with-general-how-many-days-off-of-work/280640/23 "2004-12-20T15:43:14Z")
I just had mine out in April of this year. Ask for a week. I was fine after about 3 days, but a week will definitely hedge your bets. ---
**Author:** ![ussentinel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ce7236/32.png) [@ussentinel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ussentinel)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-wisdom-teeth-removal-with-general-how-many-days-off-of-work/280640/24 "2004-12-20T17:03:38Z")
> [@I Love Me](#): > > If you remember parts of it then it probably wasn’t general anesthesia (unless the anesthesiologist really screwed up). > > I suspect what some people are calling general anesthesia in this thread is really a “twilight” anesthesia. Something like a valium IV drip that basically knocks you out so you don’t remember much if anything, yet you are still not completely under thereby reducing the chance of something going really sideways. > > And don’t you need a mask over your mouth and nose for a general? If so, how would the surgeon get to your teeth?? Point. And I should’ve clarified that. I apologize for any misunderstanding. However my bill said I had “general anesthesia,” and if that’s what I was charged for (the majority of my bill), I’d certainly want them to knock my ass out. I’m not an expert, and I don’t know if you need a mask over your nose and mouth for a general. Some I’ve talked to, said they had an IV to put them under general. ---
**Author:** ![Asteroide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@Asteroide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asteroide)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-wisdom-teeth-removal-with-general-how-many-days-off-of-work/280640/25 "2004-12-20T23:18:12Z")
I had mine out a few years back, and it was a little like the guy in the article. The actual surgery lasted about an hour, and got pretty physical towards the end - she had to break up a couple of the teeth with various power tools, and then yank the fragments using brute force. Six years later I still have a footprint shape indelibly scarred on my forehead - well not really, but it was still kind of rough. So I made it home, and lay down to take a nap. A couple of hours later I woke up feeling kind of damp and dizzy, and opened my eyes to find that I was lying in a slowly spreading pool of blood. Got on the phone to the medical center where I’d had the teeth out, explained my problem as I bled into the phone, only to find that they were closing for the day and my surgeon was away teaching a class at the medical school. Got a cab to the medical school, and ended up getting re-stitched in front of a group of gawking students - without benefit of anesthetic (can’t do you twice in one day without an anesthesiologist y’know). Not a happy memory. So I guess the moral of the story is - don’t use aspirin in the weeks before an operation (aspirin was apparently the probable culprit), and you may need a couple of days to recover, depending on your particular condition. ---
**Author:** ![Medea\_s\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-wisdom-teeth-removal-with-general-how-many-days-off-of-work/280640/26 "2004-12-20T23:32:12Z")
It really depends on how much damage your head is going to be taking to get them out. I had all four out and was social and together within three days. (That was also when we discovered that I am alergic to sulfa drugs and that vicodin makes me puke. It was a _fun_ week.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-wisdom-teeth-removal-with-general-how-many-days-off-of-work/280640.md?page=1)