Excellent. Is that over the counter or script only? Decent analgesia is getting harder and harder to obtain in Oz.
Don’t come to the States, then, Jabiru – I’m blown away by the concept of over-the-counter codeine in any form. It’s way illegal here. There’ve been a few times I really could have used it, too!
ETA: I had a pretty easy time with my wisdom teeth, but for those who haven’t, you have my sympathy!
Checking in. The quitting smoking thing is proving to be more of a challenge than I’d hoped. I shouldn’t be surprised by that, but I am.
No pain. Really. I took a Tylenol 3 at five pm the day of the extraction, and another one before bed, and had the day off work yesterday just in case. I haven’t even needed to take an aspirin. (Woot! Extra Tylenol 3s for emergencies now!)
My mouth doth taste funky, though, and gargling with warm salt water is not pleasurable. Yesterday I made some chicken soup for nutrition, though. Yum.
I’ll just have to take my own. I wonder if I’d get into strife for that? We can get only up to 8 (or mebbe 10 mg) OTC.
My experience with getting my wisdom teeth removed was relatively easy. I had four removed, and three of them were impacted at 45 degree angles. Joy. Because of this, I was under sedation, and can’t remember much between walking in and waking up (all padded up in my mouth) thinking “Where the hell am I? Why can’t I feel my face?” and poking it until my mother told me to stop. I got home, fell asleep, woke up a few hours later, took some painkillers and antibiotics (can’t remember which ones) and fell asleep within an hour or so. Repeat several times over the next few days; I was only awake for about six hours total each day, which wasn’t so bad. I’m just chemically sensitive, so painkillers make me fall asleep easily. After about a week, I was able to transition in some semi-solid foods and was quite a bit more lucid. Things healed up really well, and I had a syringe to rinse out the food particles that got stuck back there for the first few months.
Even if you’ve got a nasty impaction, you can have a relatively easy time with this type of surgery. My older brother had a nightmare surgery many years ago (they had to go back in to remove small chunks of tooth that got left in there! :eek: ), but things have improved dramatically since then.
Good luck with the smoking cessation and the healing process, Savannah!
I got lucky-and I had them out in two sessions. The first time, it was one of my wisdom teeth and an infected molar, the second time, the remaining three were yanked.
Both times I slept like a baby, and got some REALLY NICE pain killers.
Well, time to swish with the warm salt water. Still no pain, and now it doesn’t even hurt when I open my jaw really wide.
I was down to four cigarettes Friday and four on Saturday (sorry) but I smoked the last half-one last night, and I have no more. I have no intention of running out today and buying more. So now it’s just me and the patch.
(Yes, I am a moron for smoking and trying to use the patch, too. I’d rip it off, skulk outside and smoke half or a third of a cigarette, and then come back and put it back on. With extra scotch tape to keep it there. On my boob, so the bra also helps hold it against my skin.
Anyway, I am a moron, so please don’t jump on me for doing that, I know, I know…)
Last time I quit, it was cold turkey, and the physical symptoms were incredibly miserable. I ran the whole gamut of emotions, and also got sleepy, stupid, indigestion and all that. It lasted long enough that I was scared to try and quit again. That’s how rough it was cold turkey.
With the patch, I am not experiencing much craving–today. Maybe knowing there are no more cigarettes in the house and no plans for more is helping. It’s the habit and the pleasure that I miss.
I actually enjoyed smoking. I did not enjoy the smell on me, the cost, and the NEEDING to have cigarettes. Having to always stop and buy them bugged me. I can’t smoke casually; I’m either a smoker or I’m not smoking.
I haven’t told my husband that I’m trying again; I don’t want the pressure. I think he’s assuming I’m smoking when I take the dog outside or wander outside to garden or weed a bit (it’s actually not raining today). He hasn’t noticed the lack o’ stink! Weird.
I don’t remember all that much of what happened after I got my Wisdom teeth out. Percocet’s a hell of drug.
I had my wisdom teeth out last summer, about a month after my 18th birthday (I think). Hurt like hell, but I got Vicodin. Went to a Dopefest a few days afterwards, which may not have been such a good idea.
I’m having mine out this Thursday morning and this thread is helping me not to freak out as much. Thanks!
T3? Oh how I laugh at thee. They don’t do a thing for me. I could look at them and get the same result as taking them. 
About the only thing I can add that hasn’t been addressed already is to take it easy after your extractions. I went to a wedding the day after my first wisdom tooth extraction, and I went into shock there. Surprised me as much as anyone else. Turns out that having teeth pulled out of your head is a bit hard on your body. So yeah, even if you feel 110 % afterwards, take it easy. Read some good books, watch tv, let your body adjust to the new holes in your head. And don’t get a dry socket. 
And surf the web, right? Right? This has been my excuse to gently putter and mostly surf for three whole days…
The funniest thing after all this was that I was reading some dental journal articles from 2006 that said (IIRC) that 60% of third molar extractions are done unnecessarily, since extractions done for the putative reason of tooth crowding (one of the many reasons cited for mine) are unnecessary. Oh well!
I had to attend a two-day seminar on smoking cessation last year, and the gist of it ran that you SHOULD use various nicotine replacement products at the same time, and for long periods, too, because doing so actually improved the rate of success in quitting considerably. Patch and gum seemed to be most successful, but I personally thought the inhaler was cool – I wished they’d been around when I quit smoking!
I did a little research, and “shock” was probably an unintentional exaggeration. I went dead pale, started shaking uncontrollably, couldn’t get warm, had trouble concentrating on anything, and had to go home and rest immediately; I’m not sure if that is shock or not. I am also a fainter, for what that’s worth. Any way, my point still stands; my body took the extraction pretty hard, and probably would have appreciated a couple days of rest instead of getting dressed up and going dancing.
This thread was only barely starting to get cold, so I hope it’s okay to revive it.
All four of my wisdom teeth came out this morning and I’m feeling surprisingly well. I had two permanent teeth pulled a couple of years ago to help with the whole braces thing and so far, that was worse than this. I slept/surfed the web (I love having a laptop and being able to curl up in bed with it!) all day, not taking anything stronger than Aleve. As the novocaine wore off, I ate some food, and took some Tylenol with Codeine that they prescribed for me. I’m not sure I really even needed it though. It’ll be interesting to see what I’m like tomorrow. So far, there isn’t any noticeable swelling and I’ve been icing on and off in hopes of preventing it. I’m so glad that this thread was started so recently though. It really did make everything a little less scary! Thank you dopers!
all four of mine were a class-A total bitch to remove. badly impacted, infected, etc. only by the grace of god did i not dry socket. to this day i don’t know why and neither did my surgeons. yes, i had two. :rolleyes:
i heartily HEARTILY HEARTILY recommend to anyone getting them removed to go with iv sedation. if your surgeon doesn’t do it, have him or her find you one who does. trust me. worth every extra penny with or without good dental insurance. and if they’re in a certain amount of trouble, it’s doubly worth it. i’ve had one experience with a badly-infected tooth that has permanently scarred me for life. infected tissue doesn’t accept novacaine very well no matter how much is injected, and retains FEELING.
'nuff said on that subject.
for those who are about to get their wisdoms out, if you don’t have tea bags in the house, go pick up a small package of them. wet one in warm or cold water, squeeze some of the excess out and put it against the removal site or sites. the tannin helps cut down on the discomfort. lipton’s works very well.