So I’m finally getting my wisdom teeth out. Even though none of them are impacted, it seems I’ve developed something called an operculum, which led to an infection that was ridiculously painful, and in order to prevent thatt from reoccurring, I need to get them removed.
So what have everyone’s experiences been with wisdom teeth extraction? I’m going under general anaesthesia, which I’ve never done before, so I’m a little anxious about that. I’ve also heard some horror stories from friends about vomiting from the pain, so I’m real excited about that, too.
My experience was flawless.
I had all four taken out at once a few years ago. No anaesthesia other than novocaine. My dentist was skilled at reading the x-rays to see which way the roots went, and rather than just brute-force yanking them out, he used a saw to slice them into sections (They were all fully emerged) and then rotated the pieces out to minimize trauma to my gums.
I was back to work the next day.
I had the IV sedation and it went well. Once the local wore off, I took a few T3’s for about a day and was fine. I probably could have gone without the T3’s, but I was worried about pain.
It went fine, some pain, but not unbearable at all. You’ll need to be careful for the first few weeks so you don’t get dry socket, but otherwise it’s a pretty easy procedure and recovery.
Mine were a breeze. I had five (yes, five) removed, and two were impacted, so I was expecting the worst. I had them out under general anaesthesia, was in recovery in the surgeon’s office for about an hour, and went home with some Tylenol 3. I didn’t have to take any - I had literally no pain. No swelling or bruising either. If I hadn’t had giant toothless holes in my jaw, I wouldn’t have believed my teeth were even removed.
This was about three years ago, and I had been putting it off for about fifteen years.
Just to claify - conscious sedation by IV and general anesthesia are two different things. Under IV sedation done at a Dentist’s office, you are actually conscious and responsive to instructions (move your head to the right, etc), it just seems to you like you were “out” because you form no memories of the event.
My understanding is that general anesthesia should not be done in a office setting.
At any rate, I did the conscious sedation thing (I think Demerol? Maybe it was Valium. I don’t recall) and it was the easiest dental experience of my life. However you MUST have someone drive you home from the experience; you will be loopy as shit afterwards.
Recovery-wise, it varies a lot but expect to eat only soft foods and liquids for a few days (chewing can damage the stitches, and anyway it hurts) and possibly a couple days of significant swelling. Don’t expect to work or be in any way a useful human being for 2-5 days afterwards. Follow instructions to keep the area clean after the operation. My Dental surgeon recommended foods high in protein to speed healing (some suggestions: rice pudding, Jell-o, meat soups)
I had unusual pain circumstances because I also needed a root canal in a tooth adjoining the impacted wisdom tooth (fun!) They gave me vicodin, but it made me puke violently and with astounding frequency (every 1/2 hour), so I made do with Advil during the day and Tylenol 3 at night to sleep. Without the needing-a-root-canal pain, I probably would only have used something stronger than Advil the first 2 days or so.
Hello Again’s experience was similar to mine. I had all four impacted wisdom teeth removed when I was 14. I believe that I had IV demoral; they told me to count backwards from 10 and I couldn’t have made it to 9. I honestly thought that I was rendered unconscious for the surgery but reading that post makes me wonder - I have a couple of very scattered memories of being strapped in the chair with the doctor on my lap working away - however these are tiny little shards of memory. I certainly felt no pain during that time although I knew something was going on and then the memory ends. Like waking up for a second during the night and then immediately nodding off again.
Definitely have a friend there to pick you up and take you home, you will be in no condition to navigate. I’ll go a step farther and say make it two friends. Easier to walk you to your transportation and one can drive while the other holds a towel or bucket in case you are drooling (spit or blood) or get sick - again, I had the same experience with the painkillers making me ill, the first thing I did was barf which since I’d just had a lot of blood go down my gullet was reminiscent of a scene out of Alien or a particularly graphic Steven King novel. So my parents didn’t try a second dose.
My jaw was sore from being propped open for however long it took. The anesthetics made my whole jaw aside from the joint numb - I could not feel my lips, cheeks, etc. Kind of funny, really. Have a lot of mild, soft food handy - ice cream, applesauce, warm broth, etc. If everything is numb please be careful about talking and chewing, it’s easy to bite yourself when you can’t feel anything. Follow all their instructions for post-op care; I had to change the little cotton wads stuffed in my cheeks when they got soaked (ick, and I looked like a very young version of The Godfather), may have done some rinsing with mild warm saltwater, etc.
Do all the shopping the day before so you’ve got everything you need in the fridge. Stock up on books and movies so you can just veg for however long it takes to get back up on your feet. I don’t think this qualifies as major surgery by a long shot but you may just feel wiped out for a bit. I had some minor oral surgery the other week (stitches in my tongue, local anesthetic) and it took about two days before I felt like doing anything more complicated than reading a book while chugging down another milkshake. Email is a great thing, if you need something you don’t have to actually talk to anyone.
Overall, not bad, but a tiring experience.
I had mine out about 15 years ago, so maybe it’s changed. Done in the dentist chair, had an IV and do not remember a darned thing. Had to have someone take me home, once I came out of it. Of course, all 4 were horrible, and being that I have a small mouth, my face looked like someone beat me up, it was all swollen. However, pain wasn’t bad, took whatever pain meds the first day and then I was fine. Wasn’t a big deal.
You Do Not want dry socket. I’ve heard that is super painful. Not sure what causes it, I imagine your dentist can tell you.
I was sedated but was aware of what was going on but could have cared less. There were pliers and chisels and all kinds of fun tools. They had a lot of trouble getting mine out so I can’t imagine not being sedated.
The only downside was the hamburger afterwards. I got sesame seeds underneath the stitches and it HURT.
Magiver, you ate a hamburger afterward? I had mine taken out last Friday, and I still don’t think I’d eat a hamburger, especially with sesame seeds.
You won’t remember a thing. I don’t. They told my mother all my post-op instructions, and she says they told me, too, and I was “awake”, but I don’t remember. Fortunately, they have all the instructions on a flyer.
I have had problems with pain, especially in the lower left ex-tooth. I went back to the surgeon and he stuffed some medicated gauze in there. He thought it was a partial dry socket. (“Dry socket” is the loss of the protective blood clot that forms in the socket where the tooth used to be.) The gauze has helped, but not entirely, especially at night. Vicodin also does not entirely help. I go back tomorrow morning to get it checked. I am very glad I took the whole week off. I would not have done that, but this happened to be my daughter’s spring break, so I took it as vacation. Not much of a vacation, but if I would have had to be at work, too, it would have been that much more miserable. I’ve been puttering around my house, baking with my daughter, spending a lot of time on the Dope, and playing a lot of “Solitaire Overload” on the DS and “Animal Crossing” on the Wii.
If you do a little searching you’ll see this topic is covered about every 6 months.
In summary, ~75% of folks said it was no big deal, and ~25% had a pretty miserable next week. As best I recall, nobody has said they died from it.
Possibly the worst experience of my life, physically speaking.
IV sedation, followed by four days of terrible pain and an awfully swollen face. I could barely eat, and I took hydrocodone and Tylenol every ~4 hours. I used both hot and cool packs, but they only helped a bit.
On the fifth day, I went back to work. Oh god it was terrible. I had a panic attack because I couldn’t concentrate due to pain.
This was in early November and the lower right hand incision still gives me a bit of trouble sometimes (soreness mostly).
On the upside, I got to keep the upper two teeth (the lowers were sawed to pieces). They are delightfully creepy.
Pics of fat face and creepy teeth upon request.
I just had the local anaesthetic, and the procedure itself was not too bad. Afterwards, though, I had to go to the pharmacist with my cheeks stuffed full of bloody gauze, and it was icky. I recommend enlisting a friend to fill your prescriptions and stuff.
For a few days, I really couldn’t chew anything, and sleeping without painkillers was Not On. Stocking up on Guinness and crab bisque made those few days less miserable than they would otherwise have been, but it’s definitely not a pleasant time. They do give you awesome drugs, for what that’s worth. After a week or so there was still a little swelling, but it was mostly back to normal.
Mine were impacted and had to be dug out bit by bit, though, so odds are you’ll have an easier time.
I had 4 teeth pulled at different times. As for the procedure itself, it was quick and unproblematic, and done, contrarily to you, only with local anesthesia.
As for the aftermath : the first three times, it was slightly painful on the evening, and it was the end of it. A breeze. So, that’s what I expected when the fourth one was pulled out, last year. And I was very wrong. It stayed very painful for almost two weeks. So, good luck to you.
Oh! And wish me good luck too. I’ve had recently a significant pain under my last wisdom tooth, that is supporting a bridge. I see the dentist tomorrow, and I strongly suspect the bridge will have to be removed, and the tooth pulled.
So I perfectly fit in the statistics with my own experience. 3 times out of four, a breeze, and 1 time out of four a miserable week or two.
I got all mine taken out under general anaesthesia when I was around 15 or 16.
It rocked! Total fun. They stick the IV in your arm and say, “count back from 100.” Okay, 100… 99… ZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
I woke up totally high. I was literally jumping around on the furniture and telling the dentist and staff I loved them.
Of course, that wears off and it’s time to go to bed and sleep it off. Not much soreness I can remember. You live on shakes for awhile. Who doesn’t like shakes? After awhile you start wondering just what you could blend into a shake. Steak and potatoes? Maybe if you blend it enough.
I did get a dry socket though. I don’t even remember it much but I guess it hurt and had to be treated. The main thing I remember about the whole experience was being stooooooooned, having to use this syringe thing to squirt out the holes and keep them clean, being able to store a tic-tac in the hole, and shakes! Lots of milk shakes!
Oh, and potato chips. For some reason I craved potato chips, and I had to nibble them into a safe powder with my front teeth.
I had mine out last Thursday and wasn’t nervous about it. IV sedation, don’t remember the procedure at all, vaguely remember what happened when they wheeled me out; my sister drove me home.
Superficial pain that day because of swelling. I took Vicodin every four hours and it made me dizzy and extremely nauseous…I threw up twice because of that and stopped taking it after that first day. I’ve had virtually no pain up to this point and took all my meds when I was supposed to and rinsed like I was supposed to. I had a very, very good doctor.
Boy, this topic comes up a lot, along with root canals. I can only reiterate my own experiences - novacaine in doctor’s office. Ibuprofen if needed later. Oatmeal or something soft for a day or two. I actually went on a job interview after having a wisdom tooth out. I had the anesthesia one time but it seemed like a lot of drama and trouble for very little. I don’t know what kind of dope makes you caper around like Lindsay Lohan on New Years Eve, but it wasn’t that. It was an IV. ( My daughter, early teens, had some kind of anesthesia, though, and she woke up puking. And puke she did, for 2-1/2 hours straight, until I said, let’s go home, you’ll feel better throwing up sitting on your own bed.) I must come from hearty peasant stock or something, but maybe because I’ve had so many teeth extracted, it just isn’t that big a deal.
You’ll probably burst into tears when you wake up from the anesthesia. It’s normal.
I had all four out under general anesthesia. I had some weird reaction to the anesthesia that made it feel like pain was shooting through all my body, but it only lasted a second until I was out. I woke up confused and crying. Weird feeling.
I spent the first day sleeping, waking up now and then to change the bloody gauze. The next few days were moderate pain and lots of liquid food. It took about a week and a half before I could open my mouth enough to eat real food. That was a very frustrating time. The only thing that got me through was yummy, mushy, Ethiopian food.
Having holes in your mouth is really weird, but you gotta trust them. They will close up eventually.
When I woke up from the anesthesia I just asked my mom what time it was.
Maybe I’m weird…