I just had my wisdom teeth yanked out.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

And, ow.

That was not fun. I swear, I could feel the extraction all the way through my skull. Then I had to go to the pharmacy for Tylenol 3s with stuff stuffed in my mouth. I asked to look at the teeth, and was very surprised at how large they were. I miss them. My mouth feels weird.

I have to quit smoking now, so I am seeing this as an opportunity. Right? Right? I’m sitting here, with a patch slapped on to my left boob and a Tylenol 3 dissolving in my gut. I went out to the back yard for a farewell cigarette, alas, but that’s all over now. I’ve heard scary stories about “dry sockets” and I’m not eager to experience.

I took a day off work tomorrow and will probably spend some time napping, slapping on a new patch, swallowing more pills and looking at the Something Awful website. I don’t plan on taxing myself too much.

Maybe I’ll lurk in the Quitting Smoking Sucks Donkey Balls thread. And continue to feel sorry for myself. The freezing’s wearing off and it took an hour to drive home thanks to traffic. And it’s raining.

These are the first teeth I’ve ever had taken out. I had planned on dying with all my own teeth. Damn. But my jaw got in the way of brushing them properly and the dentist wanted them out.

On the bright side, my Tylenol 3s only cost me three dollars and some cents with the workplace coverage.

2

Aw, I hope you feel better. And good luck on quitting smoking.

3

Oh GOD, you do NOT want dry socket. Don’t even THINK about that farewell smoke, and DO NOT USE A STRAW. Trust me. Really a lot. I had mine done 12 years ago and I still remember the Ow.

4

I just had mine out a week ago. Take the Vicodin if they gave it, and ice your cheeks- they’ll swell less.

5

I remember what it’s like, even though I had mine removed over twenty years ago. It definitely hurt after the anaesthetic had worn off. The advice about icing the cheeks is good.

Did you have all four taken out at the same time Savannah? I had them done two at a time.

6

Thanks for the good thoughts. It was just the upper two, I don’t think the bottom two ever came in. Although it certainly feels like there is a big gap at the back now, the front and bottom rows line up equably, so I guess it’s not as bad as it feels.

Thanks for the shove in the right direction, Ginger. No more goodbye cigarettes. “One last one…” never is, is it?

>begins sobbing hysterically<

>rubs at patch, urging it to enter bloodstream faster<

Heh. The ads say “Tylenol Detox” and “Free Wisdom Teeth info”. I’ll click on the latter and check it out.

Meh. Just links to more of the same as the first page. I don’t know why they’re advertising an advert that just puts you through to more adverts…

7

I had three wisdom teeth out at once. Pretty damn miserable.

Let me wish you good luck and strength with the quitting smoking. I quit Feb 16th, and it is getting easier all the time.

8

I feel your pain, Savannah. Pump your doc for all the high-powered drugs you can get. :slight_smile:

And go order Allan Carr’s book right this second. You’ll be a few days in by the time you get it, but by the time you’re done reading, smoking will be a distant memory.

9

All my wisdom teeth erupted perfectly fine and I’ve never had anything done to them except a filling on one. MUHAHAHAHAHA! :cool:

10

I had all four out at once. Didn’t have the slightest problem. No prescription needed. I was asked how old I was (35 at the time.) The nurse said, “Oh, that’s not too bad.” I asked if it is an issure for older people. She said, “Oh yeah, once you get around 40, it’s as if the teeth are cemented in.”

11

I had the dental surgery from hell. Three third molar extractions, one impacted in a most unfortunate fashion, I’ll spare you the boring details and get straight to the ridiculous part.

The surgery was December 4th. I had mind-blowing trigeminal neuralgia for the first two weeks post-extraction, and the pain, swelling, tenderness were unrelenting, night and day. I woke every few hours at night holding my face and moaning, and was only able to open my mouth to provide a slot to shove food in. About a week before Christmas I went in to have sutures removed and the dental surgeon said that yeah, it looked pretty bad, but bad within the range of experience, and there were no signs of infection or dry socket. Then he went away for vacation.

Things got slightly better over the holiday season, but not much. I still had visible swelling, could not open my mouth, and I slept closer to four hours at a time. The trigeminal neuralgia finally faded. I was taking Percocet, Tylenol #3, and Ibuprofen, and plenty of it.

Early in January things went completely out of control. The one side of my face swelled up enormously and no amount of analgesia or icing would do a thing for it. Finally I had to go under again for surgical debridement, followed by a long and brutal course of two antibiotics with unpleasant GI side effects for the suspected osteomyelitis. The pain was so intense by the time I showed up for the debridement that I was screaming to myself incoherently while driving – I just couldn’t stop myself.

After the debridement, I had the sort of normal recovery one is supposed to expect from such things, meaning there was pain but nothing I couldn’t manage with a Tylenol #3 here and there, and the site gradually improved until it is only a tiny open area today. The dental surgeon has since said that of about 250 people he “puts to sleep” (keeping in mind that there are many many other extractions that don’t require this) per year, generally there is only one who has to return for another intervention. I’m the lucky one this year!

I am 41. On the day I went into the first surgery, I accepted a job offer. I have not missed a day of work. Well, half a day – the day I went into the second surgery. I looked pretty much like hell the next day, but trust me – there are worse things.

edited to add: Re: not smoking – use gum! use patch! use nicotine inhaler!

12

stink eye

I actually kicked up a huge fuss about my wisdom tooth extraction–flailing, panicking, wailing and gnashing of teeth, fear and trembling–even on the boards.

The actual extraction went fine, I was knocked out for the whole thing. But I definitely hear you on the icky gauze stuffed in your mouth and fuzzy Tylenol-3 loopy feeling afterwards.

Stay strong and good luck with the cigs. You can do it. :slight_smile:

13

Holy crap–TN (Trigeminal Neuralgia) is a pain that is described as among the most acute known to mankind. TN produces excruciating, lightning strikes of facial pain, typically near the nose, lips, eyes or ears.

Wow. I will immediately stop moaning, and continue to rub patch briskly. Massaging it into the skin.

I took the dog out for a pee and didn’t smoke while waiting for Miss Clover to lower her delicate haunches and tinkle in the grass. That was a first for me…

And I’ve been meaning to get the Allan Carr book for quite some time. Shall hop to Amazon, stat.

14

I hope those Tylenol 3s have some (lots of) codeine in them.

15

To contrast Gorgonzola’s story, I had a smooth extraction and recovery. Last summer I had all three of mine (the fourth one never existed) extracted at once under IV sedation. I had been putting it off for many years and was totally freaked out beforehand, trying to hide it, and failing miserably.
I went home, spent a few hours with my face packed in frozen corn and peas, had half a darvocet, and was back to almost normal by the next day. No swelling, no bruisng, no dry socket shudder. Easy as pie! It was one of those “what was I so afraid of” situations. And it felt great not to have to worry about needing the stuipd teeth out anymore.

Good luck kicking the habit!

16

30 mg of codeine phosphate per tablet (the dose in a regular strength Tylenol is 8 mg per tablet). Funky stuff.

(I did a project on opium recently, I had to look all this stuff up…)

17

Cripes, this does not bode well for me. I need to have mine extracted on the strong recommendation of my dentist. It seems I have extensive pitting around the base and roots of the teeth that is causing bone loss. My dentist wanted them out a year ago, but I have not moved on this or gone back to the dentist since. I hate dentists! Money-grubbing sadistic nazis. I figured I would just wait until the bone loss reached a point where I could pull them out myself. So, in order to prevent any nasty complications like dry socket, I better get a professional to do this job. Bleaah! Although the prospect of Vicodin…Whoo Hoo!

18

I hope your recovery goes well, **Savannah. **I had my wisdom teeth out yesterday, too. I had to get all 4 removed but they sedated me for the procedure so it was not that bad. I had a vague idea that they were doing something to my head during it but no pain or anything. Then I woke up feeling pretty normal, just really sore. I’m not feeling much pain, just some soreness and swelling, but I’m annoyed that the pain pills they gave me made me nauseous and I threw up twice. Aren’t the pills supposed to be the upside in getting dental surgery? Or maybe the nauseous feeling was from the remains of the IV drug in my body.

19

I had a fairly easy extraction (all 4 at once) but was vastly annoyed by food getting stuck in the holes for the next three months. Carry toothpicks with you!

I, too, have quit smoking since January but have found it surprisingly easy (sorry!). I smoked about 1/2 pack a day and feel much better since quitting. But I really miss it when things are crap at work or when I’m having a drink. I think it’s required here in Germany to smoke when drinking because I seem to be the only one not.

20

Just to ease the mind of people who will have teeth pulled at some point in the future and read the horror stories in this thread : I had 3 three teeth pulled in the past, I wasn’t sedated, each time it took about 30 seconds for the dentist to pull out the tooth (actually not even that long, I think) and the only pain I felt, after the local anesthesia wore of, lasted for maybe a couple hours, with an aspirin being enough to manage it.

So, having a tooth pulled out isn’t necessarily as bad as the experience some people here had.